Bulls get playoff dress rehearsal tonight vs. Nets
Before playing in Boston on Sunday, the Cleveland Cavaliers announced that LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and J.R. Smith - four of five starters - wouldn't play. The Celtics won by 39 points.
Maybe the Cavs are planning to be well-rested for the NBA playoffs. But another possible goal is the Cavs want Boston, not Brooklyn, as their first-round playoff opponent. The Celtics and Nets began the day tied for the No. 7 and 8 seeds. Cleveland has locked up No. 2 and will face whichever team finishes seventh.
The reason to fear Brooklyn is a 12-5 streak over a 17-game span, even after losing Sunday in Milwaukee. Center Brook Lopez has won consecutive Eastern Conference player-of-the-week awards, and the Nets have gotten a boost by adding forward Thaddeus Young from Minnesota in exchange for a washed-up Kevin Garnett.
The Bulls have no chance of playing Brooklyn in the first round of the playoffs, but they will face the Nets in a playoff dress rehearsal Monday at the Barclays Center.
In three games since Derrick Rose returned from his latest knee surgery, the Bulls haven't looked sharp. They lost at Orlando, had to rally from a 19-point deficit in Miami, then couldn't pull away from Philadelphia until late in the fourth quarter Saturday at the United Center.
The Bulls have had a season-long tendency to play to the level of their opponents, so maybe the challenge of playing Brooklyn will prompt a more playoff-quality performance.
"There's no time for wondering (if the Bulls can get it together by next week's playoff opener)," Joakim Noah said after Saturday's game. "We've just got to stay focused … get ready for a big game against Brooklyn on the road. It should be a fun, hostile environment.
"Just keep getting better as a team, use these games to help us. They mean a lot, but I think the thing that's more important is just us playing to our capabilities."
The Bulls don't control their playoff destiny. They need Toronto to lose a game to have any chance of getting the No. 3 seed. The Raptors are at Boston on Tuesday, then finish with Charlotte at home on Wednesday.
For the Bulls to have a realistic chance at finishing third in the East, they need to win at Brooklyn.
The Nets, meanwhile, are tied with Indiana for the final playoff spot, so they'll have plenty of incentive.
Whichever team finishes third will get Milwaukee in the first round of the playoffs. If the Bulls can't finish ahead of Toronto, they'll get a rematch with Washington in the 4 vs. 5 matchup.
Even though the Bulls swept Toronto this season, by league rule, the Raptors win a tiebreaker because they're a division champ and the Bulls are not.
The Bulls' playoff opener will most likely be played Saturday because the Blackhawks are hosting Game 3 vs. Nashville at the United Center on Sunday.
"Right now we're just trying to get the best seed possible, but it is what it is," Noah said. "At the end of the day, the playoffs are coming. You've got to go through everybody."
The biggest concern for the Bulls right now is defense. They gave up 107 points to Philadelphia on Saturday and 105 on Wednesday in the loss to Orlando. The Magic then combined with the Knicks to score just 15 points in the second quarter Saturday, setting an NBA record for fewest points in a quarter by both teams,
On the bright side, Rose played well against the Sixers, finishing with 22 points, 8 assists and no turnovers.
"I think everybody knows how serious this is as far as working on their game individually," Rose said in the locker room Saturday. "It seems like everybody's in the gym or in the weight room. You've got six or seven people in the weight room doing a postgame lift. That's what you need."
So maybe a few postgame lifts will help give the Bulls a postseason lift. We'll know more after Monday's dress rehearsal.
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