Qualified for the “play-in”, the Bulls must now choose their route

Paradoxical evening for Bulls. On the field, against the Hawks, they lost. And this is not trivial since the two teams could meet in a few days for a “play-in”. However, in the rankings, they validated their ticket for this “play-in”.

Now, we have to choose a route for the final regular season matches. The priority is obviously to maintain this 9th place, to play the first match at home. Then, should we try everything to snatch 8th place, in order to only have one match to win to reach the first round of the playoffs, or rather manage our efforts to have as much energy as possible before the two most important matches? most important of the season?

“Recovery will be important for our players. We have elements that played a huge role”, emphasizes Billy Donovan obviously thinking of DeMar DeRozan, league leader in minutes at 34 years old.

The full-back/winger does not seem to be in favor of the idea of ​​resting. “We can't be cautious from now on, me first and foremost. I want to go all out. No matter the circumstances, you have to make sure that you play the right way, that you have the rhythm, that you hold on.”delivers the former of Toronto and San Antonio.

“We are going to have decisions to make”

What about the Bulls schedule? They will be able to breathe until Friday, before a match against New York. We will then have to play six matches in ten days: three times against the Knicks, against the Magic and with a back-to-back against Detroit and Washington. To hope to take eighth place from the Sixers, we need to go back 4.5 wins.

Which promises to be very difficult since Philadelphia does not have a difficult schedule including meetings against Memphis, San Antonio, Detroit or Brooklyn, and could find Joel Embiid.

We must therefore especially think about keeping home advantage for the probable and future duel against the Hawks. “We want to play at home because it’s surely an advantage,” confirms the coach. “Now the most important thing is the health of the team. We will have to talk about it within the franchise, with the players. There are players who find rhythm by playing, others by breathing. We will have decisions to make. »

DeMar DeRozan will especially benefit from these three days without matches. “We need to recharge our batteries physically and mentally before leaving again. These last ten days will pass very quickly”, he announces. “Afterwards, in play-in, it’s like in the NCAA tournament: it’s played over one match. »