Will Perdue: Bulls can still make good run in playoffs
Former Bulls center Will Perdue answered a few questions in advance of Thursday's Game 6 of the Bulls-Bucks series.
Q: The Bulls' lead in this series is down to 3-2. Should fans be worried?
A: Well, am I worried they're going to lose this series? No. Not one bit. What concerns me is how they've lost these last two games. What's disturbing is how after both games, the postgame talk has been the same thing: "They played harder than we did. They wanted it more than we did. They played with a sense of urgency, we didn't." You say that once, that's fine. But you say that for two straight games, how is that possible on a veteran team? To me, that's a little disappointing, but it can be easily corrected.
I've never lost confidence in the fact that they're going to win this series. Regardless of how poorly they've played and how little credit we want to give to Milwaukee, the Bulls have been the favorite in this series since Day One. If I'm a player, I may not admit it, but I'd at least be thinking, "We want to get this Milwaukee series over with, because Cleveland's waiting." Heading into Game 5 on Monday, I would have been thinking, "Let's get this done tonight, so we can look forward to playing the Cavs on Saturday." That's why it doesn't make sense for the Bulls to lack a sense of urgency.
Q: What do the Bulls need to improve on for Thursday's Game 6?
A: They need to work on their screen-roll defense. In Game 5, the Bucks just kept running it and running it. One thing I will say about Bucks guard Michael Carter-Williams is he was determined on Monday. He was just putting his head down and looking to attack the basket and Derrick Rose was struggling to stay in front of him. I can honestly say that was the first time in this series I thought that was a glaring deficiency. Occasionally, he'd get by Derrick. Occasionally, he'd get to the paint off the drive. But I thought in Game 5, he made it a point, "If they're going at me, I'm going at them." He got to the rim and suddenly, the help is late, the rotation is slow.
One thing you always learn, regardless of what your weakness is or how many you have, they all get exposed in the playoffs. So what's getting exposed in this series? The Bulls defense and their inability to make stops when they have to. There have been moments when they look really good defensively. But you've got to make that big stop at the end of the game and the Bulls haven't done it in the last two.
Q: This series has been contentious at times. What do you expect in Game 6?
A: My opinion is stop the trash talk and just play basketball. Why are the Bulls wasting energy and effort trash-talking with a younger team? To me, that just makes no sense. Let your game do the talking. You win the series, then you can talk. Once you win the series, there's nothing they can say.
That said, this is still a good team. I'm not down on the Bulls at all. I think they can make a good run in these playoffs. It's just that, like a lot of fans, I have high expectations. I've been disappointed with how they've played the last few games. They had a grand opportunity to close out the Bucks in four games and they didn't do it. I still believe in them, still have confidence in them. But man, they just love doing things the hard way.
• Will Perdue is an analyst for Comcast SportsNet's Bulls pregame and postgame shows. A four-time champion (3 Bulls titles, 1 Spurs), he played 13 seasons in the NBA. Follow him on Twitter@Will_Perdue32.