The Los Angeles Lakers play the Chicago Bulls on Thursday.  Tipoff is at 8:00 p.m. ET.  Watch the live stream below.

One of the smaller headlines on Christmas Day is Pau Gasol playing the Lakers, his former team, for the first time since leaving in the summer as a free agent.  Gasol played over six seasons with Los Angeles and superstar Kobe Bryant, and he admitted facing his old team would be special.

"Emotional, weird, hard to focus, but at the same time I kind of look forward to it in a way," he said, via ESPN.  "To see some of the people that I've been through a lot with.  ... Just makes Christmas a little more special."

Gasol's 18.0 points and 11.4 rebounds per game have been a huge lift for the Bulls, who look like a contender for the NBA title with a healthy Derrick Rose finally back in the lineup after missing most of the last two seasons.

"He's having fun out there," teammate Joakim Noah said of Rose.  "When he's playing, he's playing at a really high level.  A lot of guys are stepping up, it just feels good to have Derrick back on the court.  It's real, Chicago Bulls are getting healthy again.  It's very real.  ...

"We know the sky's the limit for our team.  Our confidence is getting better, and we're just going to keep working.  It's all coming and it's going to be a special year."

After missing Tuesday's game to rest, Bryant is expected to be on the court Thursday.  He's averaging 24.6 points in over 35 minutes per game, but his field goal percentage is down from a career mark of 45.2 to 37.2

Watch the live stream HERE.