The next week and a half is going to be busy for the Bulls.
The Chicago Bulls have just six games left in the regular season, and after that, they will be in the play-in tournament for the second consecutive season. There is still some seeding stuff to figure out, but after a loss from the Brooklyn Nets earlier this week, the Bulls clinched a spot. Getting home-court advantage would be huge for Chicago, but they’ll have to play well down the stretch. It won’t be easy, however, as they have six games in 10 days to close out the season.
Earlier this week, the Bulls had a back-to-back followed by three days rest. Their second game in the back-to-back didn’t go so well as they lost at home to the Atlanta Hawks, but the rest was needed ahead of what will be a daunting stretch to close out the regular season.
“I think back to backs are always challenging,” Billy Donovan said to the media earlier this week. “They’re always going to be challenging physically. It’s part of it. Everybody’s got to deal with them. We do have a little bit of a break here. I think recovery will be important for our guys to try to get back. And obviously there are guys getting a lot of minutes and certainly a lot of minutes the last two nights. So the break of having three days will be good. But certainly on the back end, it’s going to be a little bit more challenging just because I think we play six games in 10 days. So that becomes challenging and then we’re still going back to back before the season closes out.”
The Bulls already have a depleted roster because of the injuries that they have been dealing with, and playing this many games down the stretch will be difficult for them. Making sure that everyone stays healthy will be the most important thing for this team as the postseason looms.
Remaining schedule for the Bulls
That three day break is almost up as the Bulls will be back in action at home on Friday night against the New York Knicks, and then they play against New York again on the 9th and again on the 14th. The back-to-back that Billy Donovan referenced will come on the 11th and 12th with road games against the Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards. Chicago will also play the Orlando Magic on Sunday on the road.
This is a crucial stretch for the Bulls. They want to get the nine seed in the East so that their first play-in tournament game is at home. They are currently tied with the Hawks in the standings for that position. It’s going to be a tight race to the finish line for those two teams.
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