NEWSLETTER
If you haven’t heard, the Bulls are playing some pretty good basketball as of late. Not only did they slay their Joel Embiid-demon last night with a 109-105 win, but they’ve also won 3 straight games, 5 of their last 6, and are 8-4 since the addition of Patrick Beverley.
This time last month after the All-Star break, the Bulls were 26-33 and looking at playoff chances right around 10% according to FiveThirtyEight’s projections. Now less than 30 days later, the Bulls are 34-37 and have a 26.1% chance to make the playoffs. For reference, the percentages project getting into the actual playoffs, not just the Play-In tournament.
According to Basketball Reference, the Bulls have the second-best odds to make the playoffs of any team currently outside of the top 8 at 39.3%. Toronto is the only team ahead of the Bulls in that category with odds at 43.4%.
Both outlets project the Bulls to finish with a 40-42 record, which means a 6-5 finish down the stretch. The Bulls certainly have their work cut out for them with the Sixers, Bucks, Mavericks, Grizzlies, and Clippers on the schedule. That said if they can steal a game or two from that group finishing with a .500 record isn’t totally out of the question.
With all of this said, the Bulls are most certainly still a flawed team and that won’t change the rest of this season. But they’re starting to play more like the team we thought they’d be at the start of this season. They’re playing with urgency, the stars are showing up, they’re playing great defense, and the bench is providing a spark.
I can’t wait to see how the Bulls (and the Sixers, for that matter), respond on Wednesday night to what happened in Monday’s game. I’m not totally sure holding the 76ers to 105 points in 58 minutes of basketball is doable again, but if they can give James Harden trouble and swarm the ball as they did on Monday night we could be in for another entertaining game.
So while the Bulls still might not be NBA title contenders, this sure beats talking about their chances at a high pick in the lottery!
