The Chicago Bulls are currently the ninth seed in the East with a 28-31 record. They’re just 1.5 games ahead of the 10th-seeded Atlanta Hawks and just five games shy of being completely out of the Play-In tournament. With All-Star weekend over, the next few months of the NBA season are crucial for all teams. Every game means a lot to a team like Chicago, which is 5-5 in its last 10 games. With more injuries, slow shooting and other complications, can the Bulls stay afloat ahead of a tough stretch?
A Preview of the Bulls’ Upcoming Schedule: Critical 10-Game Streak
The Bulls’ schedule for the next 10 games looks daunting for the mid-major team. In order, Chicago is scheduled to face the Milwaukee Bucks, Sacramento Kings, Utah Jazz, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers, Clippers again, Washington Wizards and Portland TrailBlazers. All but three of these teams have records above .500 and are competing for a guaranteed playoff spot.
The only “worse” teams the Bulls will face in this stretch are the Wizards and Trail Blazers. But given Chicago’s recent loss to the league-worst Detroit Pistons, there’s no guarantee they’ll capitalize on those opportunities.
The Bulls will have to scratch and claw their way to a few wins during this 10-game stretch to stay in play-in contention. However, this may be very difficult given some of the unfortunate circumstances the Bulls find themselves in.
Season-ending injury for Patrick Williams
Chicago now has two important players injured at the end of the season. Above losing Zach LaVine earlier this season, the The bulls recently reported that Patrick Williams would also end his season early with surgery on his left foot.
Williams has been disappointing this season, averaging just 10 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists. Even so, losing a player 27 minutes per game requires some intentional adjustments to rotations for the rest of the Bulls schedule.
This loss is not entirely hopeless, however. The loss of Williams could make way for a potential key to success for the Bulls who play against big men Nikola Vucevic And André Drummond together more. Allowing Vucevic to thrive as a pick-and-pop four and letting Drummond take care of the paint could be a game-changer for Chicago.
Continued shooting struggles
In their game against the Pistons, the Bulls had one of the worst three-point shooting nights in NBA history. Four Pistons players made as many, if not more, three-pointers as the entire Chicago team — which, if you’re curious, was two. The Bulls shot an abysmal 2-29 from three – an almost laughable 6.9%. With this performance, Chicago has the second-worst three-point shooting game for a team that has shot more than 25 three-pointers. This is also the first time a team has shot below 7% from deep this decade.
Three this evening:
5 — Fontecchio
3 — Cade
2 – Ausar
2 – Stewart
2 – The Chicago BullsThe Bulls are the first team in the 2020s to shoot less than 7% from deep in a game. pic.twitter.com/4QJlkpNwEt
– StatMuse (@statmuse) February 28, 2024
Bad three-point shooting is nothing new for this Bulls team. Chicago ranks in the bottom 10 in three-point attempts and efficiency this season. Having a historically bad shooting night only highlights these deficits even more.
To add salt to the wound, the Pistons only have nine victories on the season, including two against the Bulls.
The final word: hope for the best in the critical period of the calendar
The Bulls’ next 10 games could make or break the rest of their season. The best-case scenario would be for Chicago to get tied at 5-5 and avoid slipping from ninth or tenth place. If Chicago can take advantage of the games against Washington and Portland and pull off a few upsets against stronger teams, they might just stay afloat.
As the Bulls’ schedule gets tougher, so does the importance of this streak. Chicago fans will have to hold their breath and hope for the best as their Bulls face this critical period.
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