Pippen Ain't Easy
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Chicago Bulls Must Win Pivotal Game 6 Against Bucks

By Kenyatta Wright

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After losing the first three games against their opponent, the Milwaukee Bucks have forced the Chicago Bulls into a pivotal Game 6. The last two Game 7’s that the Bulls were in occurred in 2013 against the Brooklyn Nets and in that historic seven-game series against the Boston Celtics during the 2009 NBA Playoffs.

That series against the Celtics set the NBA record for most overtime games (four) and periods played (seven) in a series. In the Nets series, the Bulls lost Game 1 and would go on to win the next three games to take a commanding 3-1 series lead, and then the Nets won two straight and forced a Game 7 at Barclay’s Center, which the Bulls went on to win.

Chicago has proven they can win in Milwaukee in Game 3, and now the team must find the energy to put this suddenly confident and scrappy Bucks team away in Game 6 before this series gets out of hand. As the series continues to extend, the Bucks are beginning to find players that are suddenly having huge performances. Michael Carter-Williams was able to score 22 points and dish 9 assists for Milwaukee and help the Bucks avoid elimination during a 94-88 victory in Game 5.

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The Bulls’ backcourt of Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose didn’t have a great shooting night in both Games 4 and 5, as the pair shot just 27-71 from the field and committed 22 turnovers. The Bucks got into the Bulls and forced them to just one shot for most of the game.

A Bulls team that was once known for their never-die approach has suddenly turned into one that has expressed overconfidence since the season began. You’ve got to feel that the Bulls were looking ahead to playing the Cavs, because all the sports shows all week were asking can the Bulls beat the Cleveland Cavaliers? The Bucks came out in Game 5 and played in a fashion that has seemingly refocused the Bulls’ attention on them. “I think they have our attention,” Derrick Rose said of their opponent.

With the Bulls being up 3-0 at one time, the recent injury to Cavaliers Forward Kevin Love, and the suspension of Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith, there is a great possibility that the Bulls could get past the Cavs in round two, but the only problem is they haven’t finished off the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks have grown more and more confident with each win.

In the regular season the Bulls lost as many as 15 games to sub .500 teams, and the team has had trouble all season approaching every game with the same level of intensity and focus, regardless of how well they’re playing. “We just got laxed (relaxed), I felt we thought we could just come in here and close the series out,” said Taj in a live interview aired by the Chicago Tribune.

Well, the Bulls have to find a way to refocus or this series will go seven games, and in the last two 7-game series they are 1-1. That means Game 7 can go either way. And if they should happen to lose the series, then they would become the first team in NBA history to lose that critical game after starting the series 3-0.

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