Bulls Play Tonight! What Happened Last Night?
By Ronald Agers
Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports
The Chicago Bulls had the night off last night after capturing a big win against the Heat on Sunday. Now the Bulls get to do the Texas-Two-Step for the next two games playing the San Antonio Spurs tonight and the red-hot Houston Rockets. Both of these games will be in Chicago and are very important with the constant changes going on with the seedings of the Leastern conference. Basically all of the playoff contenders want to put off playing the Miami Heat in the playoffs as much as possible so the Bulls need to keep winning so they can have a high seed and draw favorable matchups in the playoffs. Let’s see how the competition fared last night.
#6 seed Brooklyn Nets (32-30) defeat the #3 seed Toronto Raptors (35-27) 101-97.
This is a game of good news and bad news. First the good news. With this loss the Toronto Raptors are now one game ahead of the Bulls for the third seed. The next three games the Raptors play will be against the Detroit Pistons who has the million dollar squad investments but gets a penny returns on the investments. Then it’s the Memphis Grizzlies who will always be tough team to face. Then it’s the Phoenix Suns who have shocked everyone in the NBA this season. They have playoff aspirations of their own so they have their own reasons to come out and get this game. If the Raptors start to fade the Bulls can get that all important third seed.
Here’s the bad news. The Brooklyn Nets are red-hot right now. I mean they are burning down the Barclay Center with their play. The Bulls have one of the best records in the NBA since 2014 started. The Nets are RIGHT BEHIND them matching the Bulls win for win. The Bulls match up very well against the Nets especially with Brook Lopez out for the season. The Bulls laid an egg the last time these two teams played but the Bulls just had a bad night. However the hot streak the Nets are on can’t be ignored. The win has them two games behind the Bulls in the playoff race in sixth place and three games behind the Raptors for the Atlantic division title. Uh Oh!
#5 seed Washington Wizards (33-30) lose to #2 seed Miami Heat (44-17) 99-90.
Joakim Noah has made it clear that the Miami Heat are not amongst his favorite people these days or in the future for that matter, however, the Heat did the Bulls a favor defeating the Wizards 99-90 stopping their own three game slide. The Bulls cannot be tied with the Wizards in the loss column at the end of the year because Washington has the tiebreaker over the Bulls courtesy of them winning the season series. They fall into a tie in the loss column with the Nets and are two games back of the Bulls. The Wizards play the #7 seed Charlotte Bobcats (this is not a misprint people, I know this is a shock more on that later), the Orlando Magic and a showdown with the Brooklyn Nets which will make the Leastern conference race even tighter. The Miami Heat stayed tied in the loss column with the Indiana Pacers for the #1 seed in the conference.
#7 Charlotte Bobcats (30-34) defeat the Denver Nuggets 105-98.
I am going to say this again! This is not a misprint. The Charlotte Bobcats are in position to make the playoffs for the second and LAST time in Bobcats history. With the franchise changing its name to the Hornets next year, making the playoffs will give the franchise something to give the loyal fans to cheer about. They deserve it. I don’t think they will catch the Bulls at this point but, the Bulls still need to keep on winning. A losing streak could allow the Bobcats to take a shot at them and they have won seven straight at home. Al Jefferson gave them fits the last time these two teams played. He has earned every single penny that the Bobcats gave him in that contract this year. He reminds me of George McInnis an old school player that played for the Philadelphia 76ers when they had Dr. J in the 70’s. His low post play has allowed Kemba Walker to really shine on the court. These two have provided a solid foundation for Charlotte in the future. They play the Wizards, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Milwaukee Sucks…I mean Bucks. All winnable games for Charlotte.
#8 Atlanta Hawks (27-35) finally won a basketball game! They defeated the Utah Jazz 112-110.
The Atlanta Hawks stink right now. They have lost 14 of their last 16 games and are dangerously close to dropping out of the playoffs altogether. It’s because of them the Knicks actually think they still have a shot at making the playoffs. Things are really bad for the Hawks. Last night’s win snapped a ten game losing streak on the road. They had a horrible west coast trip and to top it all off, Kyle Korver’s consecutive game streak with a three pointer got snapped at 127 games. Now I really have no reason to care about the Hawks these days.
Right now the difference between the third through six seeds is three games. The message is clear. The Bulls have to keep winning and not slip up.