While most of this season has been an undesirable crawl to the finish line, with five games left, things have officially turned the corner. With their odds of making the Play-In tournament currently at 99.9%, barring a five-game losing skid, it’s becoming clear that they’ll be competing in the four-team tournament with the opportunity to make the official NBA Playoff pool. The other three teams in a similar situation to Chicago are similarly talented, and the Bulls have beaten each of them at least once this season. Let’s see where the dust could settle after five games and how likely each scenario is.
Easiest Road Ahead
The good news for Chicago is that the two teams they’re battling with, Toronto and Atlanta, have significantly more difficult schedules the rest of the way. Of their combined eight remaining games, they’ll face the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference five times. On the other hand, the Bulls only have to play one of those teams the rest of the way. They’ll also end the season with one of the league’s lowest records, the Detroit Pistons.
If Chicago can take care of business against their weak remaining schedule, they should realistically find themselves 2-2 at a minimum over the next four and more likely 3-1 during that span. This would plant them firmly in the eighth or ninth spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture heading into the postseason. By winning tonight against the Atlanta Hawks, they would own the season tiebreaker head-to-head and hurdle them in the standings. Toronto holds the tiebreaker over Chicago, so the Bulls would require a better overall record than the Raptors to finish above them in the Play-In standings.
Staying Hot
The Bulls have won two of their last three, seven of their last ten, and 11 of their last 16. Their last two victories have been by over 20 points, including their largest comeback win of the season over the Western Conference’s second-best team, the Memphis Grizzlies. Trailing by 23 during the second quarter, a second-half 16-to-0 turnover differential made all the difference, including a 40-16 third quarter dominated by the Bulls’ fastbreak points and three-point shooting.
Sitting in the United Center, the entire arena chanted DEFENSE for what seemed like 20 straight possessions mid-way through the third quarter. Considering it was a regular season game for a team that has been sub-.500 the entire season, it felt like the playoff intensity had already begun in the Windy City. It was certainly not the same team that suffered the embarrassing thrashing in Minnesota just months ago.
Biggest Game Of The Year
Following probably their most impressive win of the year at home against Memphis, next up for Chicago, their most important game thus far. Facing the Hawks, where the winner takes the tiebreaker and the higher seed, this will more than likely determine the eighth-place finisher in the Eastern Conference and lock a date with the Miami Heat in the first game of the Play-In Tournament. With Toronto having to face Boston twice and Milwaukee once in their final four games, they’ll likely slide to the ninth or tenth spot, with the loser of the Bulls versus Hawks game occupying the other.
How crucial is getting the eighth seed versus the ninth or tenth? Well, it gives an insurance policy to your squad, and the minimum number of games to punch a ticket to the NBA Playoffs is cut in half. The eighth-place finishing team will visit the seventh-place club in a winner-advances to the playoffs situation as the seventh seed, meaning they’d face the two seed in the Eastern Conference. The tenth seed will visit the ninth-place team in a game where the loser is sent home, and the winner heads to face the loser of the 7/8 matchup. The winner of that game will earn the opportunity to meet the best team out East but will officially be in the NBA Playoffs.
So Bulls nation, where do you see Chicago finishing, and how much chance do they have in the postseason?
Vote below!
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