The Chicago Bulls travel north of the border to play the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre on Monday.

The Bulls (21-53) come into this matchup winning two of their last three games but that's really their only promising stretch in quite some time. In fact, Chicago now owns the third-worst record in the east and the fourth-worst record in the NBA. That's not necessarily the worst thing for a team like this though, as they need to add another young piece in next year's draft. It's not like this is a terrible team either, as they have just as much talent as any other team. With a core of Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen and Kris Dunn running the show, this is a team no one wants to face. The offense just hasn't been able to get going for whatever reason though, with Chicago ranking 27th in both scoring and assists. That should improve over time and this is a team to fear next season when their young core has another offseason to develop.

The Raptors (51-23) have hit a bit of a second-half wall, as they come into this matchup with a 7-7 record across their last 14 games. While Chicago would die for a run like that, it's simply not good enough for the Raptors. The good news is that Toronto is essentially locked into the two-seed in the east. In fact, they find themselves four games back of the Milwaukee Bucks in first and four games up on the Philadelphia 76ers in third. It's going to be almost impossible to catch either of those with just eight games remaining and it's all about health at this point for the Raptors. That's why they're being extremely cautious with Kyle Lowry (ankle) and Kawhi Leonard, as this club has more aspirations than finishing just second in the conference.

This is the third of four meetings between these teams, with Toronto winning each of the first two games. The Raptors have held the Bulls to just 89 points per game in the first two matchups.