Getty Head coach Billy Donovan addresses the Chicago Bulls during a May 11 game against the Brooklyn Nets.
No one can argue the resilience of this Chicago Bulls team, who’ve pulled out multiple wins over the final stretch to keep their season, and playoff hopes, alive.
With two games left, they’re 30-40, and two games back of the 10th-seed Washington Wizards.
It won’t be easy, Chicago making the play-in tournament. But it’s not impossible either.
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Bulls’ Play-In Odds Are Low, But Not Zero
After their win over the Toronto Raptors, the Chicago Bulls remain uneliminated from the play-in tournament.
What’s helped is the Washington Wizards’ recent two-game slide, both losses coming by way of the Atlanta Hawks.
As of Friday afternoon, Five Thirty Eight is still giving the Bulls a less than one percent chance at making the playoffs. Chicago’s got the lowest odds of all non-eliminated teams.
Because in order to reach the play-in tournament, they need to win out, and the Wizards to go winless.
With Bradley Beal sidelined, the second part may not be too tall an order. Washington’s got the pesky Cleveland Cavaliers and a Charlotte Hornets team overdue for a win on tap.
But the Bulls, their remaining schedule isn’t necessarily tapped with winnable games.
Chicago’s Remaining Slate is a Tough One
At a time where the Chicago Bulls need two wins and nothing but, their schedule looks the opposite.
The two games that will decide their play-in tournament hopes will come against the Brooklyn Nets and the Boston Celtics. And the former, as Marc Stein of the New York Times reported, will be fully healthy.
Nets coach Steve Nash says he expects Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving to all play Saturday against Chicago … which would be just their eighth game together this season.
Fans likely have yet to forget that the Nets beat the Bulls, without James Harden, and with Kyrie Irving leaving early due to a collision with Nikola Vucevic’s elbow.
Zach LaVine had his first 40-point game since April 9th, and Kevin Durant voiced optimism around Chicago’s roster and budding culture, but it was a near-damning blow to their play-in hopes.
Saturday’s rematch holds the potential to finish the job the first game started, ending the Bulls’ season early.
But if it doesn’t, and they pull out a miraculous win over a team with three of the league’s top-15 players, it won’t get any easier for Chicago in their final regular-season game.
Albeit in a different tier, the Celtics are in a fight for their season too, now facing a postseason run that may have to come by way of the play-in, and without Jaylen Brown.
No team is more dangerous than one with nothing to lose, and a matchup between Boston and Chicago features two of the more desperate teams in the entire NBA down the final stretch.
It was the Bulls who came out on top in the last bout between these two teams, but on a night where star forward Jayson Tatum shot just three-of-15 from the field and 0-7 from three.
For him to have another shooting performance like that, in the final game of his regular season, with the team’s postseason fate on the line, would take an enormous amount of luck.
But so will the Chicago Bulls finding their way into the play-in.
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Bulls Playoff Outlook Shifts as Pivotal Final Stretch Looms