There were 3 potential first round matchups for the Bulls heading into the final day of the regular season – Bucks, 76ers, and Celtics. At the end of the day, when the dust finally settled, the Celtics jumped the Bucks in the standings, slotting the Bulls against the reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks.
For most realistic Bulls fans, the end in in sight. This beaten and battered Chicago team just simply doesn’t have what it takes to overcome really any of these playoff teams, but if there was a chance, I think the door slammed shut when Giannis and his crew landed 3rd in the East. The Bulls, like most teams, don’t have an answer for Giannis and beyond that, the playoff experience and team chemistry that Milwaukee boasts is enough on it’s own to make this series look bleak. A matchup against the 76ers could have allowed the Bulls an opportunity to take advantage of Philly’s lack of chemistry among their stars, Harden and Embiid, but Embiid poses many of the same challenges for the Bulls that Giannis does. In my opinion, the best matchup for the Bulls would have been the Celtics, who lost their rising star big, Robert “Timelord” Williams, to injury. The Bulls run small, and always have trouble against the leagues best big men, Chicago could at least match up size wise against this Boston team. Nevertheless, we will have to get through the Bucks if we want to keep this roller coaster of a season alive. Although the odds are stacked against us, what fun would it be to roll over and hand the series to the Bucks, so let’s look at what it would take for the Bulls to have a chance.
First and foremost, the Bulls need the peak performance from DeRozan that we have become accustomed to this season. It’s extremely likely that the Bucks defensive game plan is going to be to scheme against a DeRozan focused offense in which case our other major players are going to need to step up. Zach Lavine may need to be “The Guy” for us in the playoffs as the opposing teams focus in on Deebo. I would also like to see Vucevic get more involved down low, we often are out matched when it comes to our bigs defensively, but Vooch is a more than capable offensive player. The Bulls should look to utilize him more near the rim where he can also distribute the ball, as opposed to constantly on the pick and pop leaving Vucevic out beyond the three point line where he has been fairly inconsistent this season. Our success offensively will also be hinged on the shooting success off the bench. Coby White needs to find his groove and be able to sustain it, Ayo needs to continue to be aggressive, stay smart and not allow his youth and inexperience to be a weakness. Lastly, and maybe most importantly, we need Patrick Williams to play to his ability and continue to grow on offense. Defensively, he is going to need to be the difference maker that he was a year ago, if he can step up and be the primary defender on Giannis, slowing him down enough that the Freaks teammates need to control the game, we MIGHT have a chance.
It’s going to take a full team effort, something that we haven’t seen from the Bulls in the second half of the season. Anything can happen, Giannis can’t beat us on his own, so if we can slow him down, even just a little bit (maybe get him into foul trouble), and limit the Bucks other offensive opportunities, we could put up a fight. Unfortunately, the Bulls have zero, zip, zilch, nada, absolutely NO room for error. It is going to take a perfect series to dethrone the reigning champs. Nothing is impossible, but it’s definitely an uphill, a very very steep uphill, climb for the Bulls heading into round one.
My honest prediction would be Bucks in 5. I’ll obviously be hoping for a better outcome than that, I would gladly be wrong if it meant making it more of a series and especially if we can find a way to win the series. Let me know your thoughts, you can find me on Twitter @GreNBA_ As always, thanks for reading, have a great day, enjoy the play-in tournament this week, this is All Net!
Jacob Grenemeier
April 11th, 2022
Chicago Hoop Heads 
