Bulls '22-'23 Season Thread

[Old Style]

nee hurd

[ChiCubsFan]

Never 4get 2021-22 first half Bulls season. Chi Slama Jama.

[UMFan83]

Bulls are kings of the second OT. They finally beat Embiid for the first time in his career. Dammit they’re pulling me back in wtf

[Thurman Merman]

Bulls are kings of the second OT. They finally beat Embiid for the first time in his career. Dammit they’re pulling me back in wtf

They need to get away from that DeMar iso ball though. Driving me insane.

[17 Seconds]

lauri is averaging 25 and 9 and is very close to 50/40/90. I can't believe that

[apete6]

Bulls are kings of the second OT. They finally beat Embiid for the first time in his career. Dammit they’re pulling me back in wtf

 

And followed it up by going down 17-0 and 23-1 en route to a 20+ point loss where Embiid only had to play 16 minutes in the whole game, LOL.

[17 Seconds]

I like demar a lot but the bulls really need to trade him in the offseason and let zach cook next year

[bukie]

Next up, thanks to a weird schedule quirk, the Bulls see the Lakers for the first time this season, with just 9 overall games to play.

 

The Lakers actually just snuck into the 8 spot in the West with a 2 game winning streak, a half game up on 11th place Dallas.

 

The Bulls have a 2.5 game lead on 11th place right now, and 5 of their remaining 9 games are against Western Conference teams in the playoff hunt (Lakers x2, Clippers, Mavs, Grisslies), one game against likely top seed Milwaukee, one game against current 8 seed Atlanta (whom the Bulls trail by a game), and two games against already eliminated Charlotte and Detroit.

 

The back half of the Western Conference is extremely tight with fewer than 10 games to play, with just 3.5 games separating 4 seed Phoenix (38-34) and 12 seed Utah (35-38). With the top 3 seeds being Denver, Memphis and Sacramento, the West feels especially wide open this playoffs.

 

Meanwhile in the East it looks like for sure Milwaukee, Boston and Philly will make the second round, with that 4-5 matchup being the only thing interesting.

 

But hey, the Bulls could play as many as 6 meaningful playoff games this season!

[UMFan83]

But hey, the Bulls could play as many as 6 meaningful playoff games this season!

 

More than last year! #Progress

[bukie]

Bulls within a half game of the 8 spot now, 1/2 game behind both the Hawks and Raptors.

Thanks to Indiana and Washington losing last night with the Bulls winning, they have a 3.5 game lead on the lottery, so it looks more and more like the Bulls will actually make the play-in game. Also, the 6 spot is 3.5 games away, so they're just as likely to climb out of the play-in games as they are to miss the playoffs entirely (that said, neither option is particularly likely at this point).

8 games to go, Bulls have actually played well recently, just likely not well enough to secure a real playoff spot.

 

[UMFan83]

1 hour ago, bukie said:

Bulls within a half game of the 8 spot now, 1/2 game behind both the Hawks and Raptors.

Thanks to Indiana and Washington losing last night with the Bulls winning, they have a 3.5 game lead on the lottery, so it looks more and more like the Bulls will actually make the play-in game. Also, the 6 spot is 3.5 games away, so they're just as likely to climb out of the play-in games as they are to miss the playoffs entirely (that said, neither option is particularly likely at this point).

8 games to go, Bulls have actually played well recently, just likely not well enough to secure a real playoff spot.

 

They have played well. I completely checked out on the season 3 weeks ago. Was so far removed from caring and openly rooting to tank. But now I feel dare I say it, a little excited?

obviously the season is still going nowhere and the team is still built to embrace nba hell for some reason but if they keep playing like they they may be able to get into a playoff series which would be a huge accomplishment given where they were a few weeks ago. And heck given their ability to beat good teams this year, perhaps they can have a better series than they had last time, though I don’t like the matchup against either Milwaukee or Philly despite success against both this year. 

[Proven Veteran]

I was rooting for the slim chance at not losing their pick. I haven't watched a whole game this season after watching nearly every game last year.

[17 Seconds]

it's mind blowing that they have a top defense

[17 Seconds]

zach is lethal right now

[UMFan83]

Incredible win, being down 23 and now leading by 21. 
 

if they beat the Hawks in their next game they have a really good shot of at least getting the 9 seed as it would clinch the tiebreaker against the Hawks, and clinch the 3 team tiebreaker between the Raptors and Hawks. 
 

standings right now

8. Raptors - -

9. Hawks 0.5

10. Bulls 1.0

Edited April 2, 2023 by UMFan83

[bukie]

The 8 spot is really the key in that group. Get 8th and you have 2 chances to win one game to make a playoff series. Get 9th or 10th and you have 1 chance to win 2 games to make a playoff series.

[UMFan83]

2 minutes ago, bukie said:

The 8 spot is really the key in that group. Get 8th and you have 2 chances to win one game to make a playoff series. Get 9th or 10th and you have 1 chance to win 2 games to make a playoff series.

Good news is Toronto has one more layup against Charlotte but their their last 3 games are @ Boston, @ Boston, vs Milwaukee. Both of those teams are fighting for the number 1 seed. 
 

Bulls have that critical game against Atlanta, then 2 tougher games @ Milwaukee and @ Dallas (who is really struggling but fighting to make the play-in) before finishing against Detroit who is trying to lock in top lottery odds. 
 

Would need something like a 3-1 Bulls finish combined with a 1-3 Raptors finish OR 2-2 and 1-3 with Atlanta also tying the Raptors and Bulls (assuming one of the Bulls wins is against Atlanta)

Finally Atlanta has the Bulls game, then Washington and Philadelphia at home and finishing at Boston

[mfcubs22]

So if all 3 teams tie, the Bulls get the tiebreaker (assuming they win Tuesday)? Tuesday is a huge game. 

Edited April 3, 2023 by mfcubs22

[UMFan83]

Reminder of the stakes tonight...if the Bulls win, they tie the Hawks in the standings for the 9 seed with 3 to play and clinch the tiebreaker over Atlanta.  They also clinch a potential 3 team tiebreaker with both Atlanta and Toronto (but lose the tiebreak to just Toronto) for the 8 seed which is the true prize.  Thus if they win tonight and the Raptors somehow lost to the hapless Hornets, the Bulls would end the night in the 8 seed.

Also of note:  Trae Young and DeAndre Hunter are both out tonight.  Which would normally be a good thing but it would be very Bulls to lose anyways.

[UMFan83]

5 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

Reminder of the stakes tonight...if the Bulls win, they tie the Hawks in the standings for the 9 seed with 3 to play and clinch the tiebreaker over Atlanta.  They also clinch a potential 3 team tiebreaker with both Atlanta and Toronto (but lose the tiebreak to just Toronto) for the 8 seed which is the true prize.  Thus if they win tonight and the Raptors somehow lost to the hapless Hornets, the Bulls would end the night in the 8 seed.

Also of note:  Trae Young and DeAndre Hunter are both out tonight.  Which would normally be a good thing but it would be very Bulls to lose anyways.

And shocker they lost by double digits. They are now virtually locked into the 10 seed unless they win out and the Raptors and/or Hawks lose out.  RIP JR’s playoff revenue

[mfcubs22]

I (stupidly) went to the game tonight. What a terrible performance. The starting 5 were absolutely awful. Billy needs to be fired, but won’t be. Highlight of my night was Au Cheval and the Une Année beer I had. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

7 hours ago, mfcubs22 said:

I (stupidly) went to the game tonight. What a terrible performance. The starting 5 were absolutely awful. Billy needs to be fired, but won’t be. Highlight of my night was Au Cheval and the Une Année beer I had. 

Despite your bad experience, welcome to North Side Baseball anyway!

[UMFan83]

10 hours ago, mfcubs22 said:

I (stupidly) went to the game tonight. What a terrible performance. The starting 5 were absolutely awful. Billy needs to be fired, but won’t be. Highlight of my night was Au Cheval and the Une Année beer I had. 

Yeah Jerry has done a good job providing (expensive) food and drink options to distract us from the mediocre product he puts on the court.

[Outshined_One]

I just don't see a way forward for this team over the next 2-3 years.

[17 Seconds]

5 minutes ago, Outshined_One said:

I just don't see a way forward for this team over the next 2-3 years.

i kind of do, now that zach has proven he's still great. lonzo's 20 mil hurts, but i think they could put a 50 win team out there next year with some good moves. it starts with trading demar and adding shooters. the defense is there and coby is showing some signs. i think a new coach could also do wonders, but billy seems pretty locked in here.

Edited April 5, 2023 by 17 Seconds