Let me paint a picture for you. It’s the final night of the season in the NBA. What started in October of 2016 all comes down to a few hours on a Wednesday night in mid-April. The Chicago Bulls need a win. To get it, they’ll have to beat the Brooklyn Nets, the team with the worst record in the entire league. Also, a team that beat the Bulls just four days earlier.
Welcome to the final night of the regular season, ladies and gentlemen.
What spectacular fashion this season will end in. Either Chicago is going to stomp the Nets, just like they stomped the lackadaisical Orlando Magic on Monday, or they’re going to crumble, just like they did against this same Brooklyn team on Saturday.
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To be honest, there isn’t as much drama surrounding this game as I’m building it up to. It’s pretty simple and actually pretty safe to bet on the Bulls making the playoffs. If they beat the Nets, they’re in. That’s a nice, easy, clean way to do it. If they lose… they’re probably still in. They hold tiebreakers over both the Indiana Pacers and the Miami Heat. If the Bulls lose, they’ll finish behind the Pacers, but still keep the eight-seed if Miami loses. Let’s be realistic, there’s no reason that Chicago should lose and even less reason that the Heat should win.
Of course, Chicago shouldn’t have lost to this Brooklyn team on Saturday, either. Caris LeVert and Spencer Dinwiddie had themselves a few great plays and helped secure a win for last place Nets. They’re locked in for the most ping-pong balls in the lottery this summer, so they gain nothing by losing – or winning.
The pressure here is squarely on the Bulls. They have to get the win and they might be trying for it without Rajon Rondo who was shooting at practice on Tuesday, but wasn’t a full participant in activities. It’s a great debate, trying to figure out if Chicago is better off with or without both Rondo and the recently returned Dwyane Wade in the lineup. I have a feeling that much like the 81 games that preceded it, this one is going to be all about how far Jimmy Butler can carry the team and if the March-April version of Nikola Mirotic shows up or not.
Or I could be completely wrong. Guess we’ll all just have to tune in and see what happens.
Matchup: Chicago Bulls (40-41) vs. Brooklyn Nets (20-61)
When: 7:00 p.m. CST
Where: United Center, Chicago, IL
Stream: fuboTV
TV: CSN-Chicago
Radio: WLS-AM 890, WRTO 1200 (ESP)