Top seed in the East within reach for Bulls, but maybe not worth the trouble
The Bulls have one last game this month, tonight at Washington. So it's appropriate to say the NBA season has entered the stretch run.
It's also safe to say few people expected the Bulls to be where they are now — with a chance to beat out Boston and Miami for first place in the Eastern Conference.
Most preseason predictions have disappeared, so it's not easy to get scientific about this point, but there seemed to be at least as many picks for Milwaukee to win the Central Division as the Bulls. The spread is now 18½ games after the Bulls knocked off the injury-plagued Bucks 83-75 on Saturday.
The Bulls' last chance to add a significant piece for the push will end when March arrives. Players must be released by their current teams by March 1 to be eligible for the playoffs with a different team.
The prize for winning the top seed in the East seems obvious enough. Besides homecourt advantage, the No. 1 team would presumably face Orlando or Atlanta in the second round of the playoffs, while the remaining pair among the Bulls, Boston and Miami would knock heads with each other.
History shows the top seed is overrated, though. Believe it or not, the No. 1 seed in the East has failed to advance to the Finals in seven of the last eight years. The only one that did was the 2008 Celtics, which had to win a pair of seventh games along the way.
The No. 2 seed would be in position to get homecourt advantage in the second round, which figures to be worth something.
Maybe a better question for the Bulls is how prepared they are for a playoff run. It's possible they produced a quality regular-season record because they work harder on defense than most teams.
When everyone turns up the intensity, the more talented teams usually prevail in the playoffs. Are the Bulls destined to be the Don Nelson-coached Milwaukee Bucks of the 1980s, or do they have a legitimate chance to knock off the Celtics and Heat?
Each of the Bulls' rivals has a weakness.
Boston's is obviously age. Ray Allen is already 35 and Kevin Garnett will join him in May. Shaquille O'Neal turns 39 next week and Paul Pierce is 33.
The Celtics' surprising deadline deal, sending center Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City, was mostly about the team fearing it couldn't re-sign Perkins this summer. But getting forward Jeff Green from the Thunder seemed to be a move designed for Miami. Boston doesn't want to count on Allen and Pierce to play all the defense against Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.
With Perkins gone, though, it keeps O'Neal in the starting lineup and he's had a tough time matching up with far more energetic Bulls center Joakim Noah. Remember, Noah had a 20-20 game in the playoffs last year with O'Neal toiling for the Cavaliers. Boston's alternative is a smaller lineup with Garnett at center.
Miami's issues are chemistry, depth and inside strength. In the first half against the Bulls on Thursday, the Heat ran its offense well and got baskets from a variety of sources. In the second half, James and Wade took turns going 1-on-1 while the bench players combined for 2 points.
In the final analysis, Miami coach Eric Spoelstra blamed the loss on lack of defensive discipline, which is a nice way of saying Wade should never have left Luol Deng open in the corner.
The Bulls have a rough road trip ahead, with games in Atlanta, Orlando and Miami later this week. If they drop all three, the Bulls may be worried about slipping into the fourth seed rather than ascending to the top two.
Overall, the Bulls have done a decent job against the NBA's top teams, going 9-6 against the top eight, which bodes well for their playoff readiness.
Their place in the final standings will likely depend on avoiding lapses. Those losses at Toronto and New Jersey, along with 1-point failures against the Clippers and Bobcats at home, are what's keeping the Bulls in third place.
mmcgraw@dailyherald.com.
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