CHICAGO – The Chicago Bulls are officially heading back to the postseason. The Bulls clinced a play-in tournament berth on Tuesday night at home as they took down the Toronto Raptors. Chicago came into the game with two consecutive disappointing losses, but they were in control from start to finish against the Raptors. The Bulls went on to win the game 137-118, but head coach Billy Donovan knows that the foot needs to remains on the gas.
The Bulls have clinched a play-in tournament berth, but there is still a lot that they can accomplish during the final stretch of the regular season. The team isn’t going to take it easy just because they have a spot locked up.
“How do we play to continue to try to maybe get a home game,” Billy Donovan said to the media after the game. “There’s been no talk with the front office about, ‘We’re gonna start resting guys,’ or ‘We’re gonna start taking guys out.’ I think the mentality is, one, we’ve got to get healthy. That’s gonna be important, maybe get some bodies back. On a back-to-back with a shortened bench, I really appreciated the way the guys responded physically. The part I didn’t like about the last two games, quite honestly, I felt like we were playing good basketball, but in those games against Dallas and OKC, we regressed. … I thought we lost how we were playing. I don’t want that to happen in the last six or seven games.”
This Bulls team looked a lot different two months ago than it does now. The team made some significant moves ahead of the trade deadline, and because of that, this current group hasn’t played together for very long. These final six games are important.
“We have to try to continue to get better and try to improve,” Donovan continued. “Since the All-Star break, trade deadline, I think we’ve had only, like, 20 games together. We need that time instead of going, ‘Hey, we’re locked in, let’s let these six or seven games go by the wayside.’ … We are somewhat of a new group with the additions that we’ve added.”
Not only can the Bulls still get a home game in the play-in tournament, but they could also move into the top eight and get into a position where they only need one win to make the playoffs. There is still a lot to play for as the Bulls look to put themselves in the best position possible heading into the postseason.
