McGraw: This one bigger for Bulls than Cavs

Is it fair to call Sunday's game in Cleveland the Bulls' last big test of the regular season?

Technically, the Cavaliers aren't the best team left on the schedule. The Bulls finish at home against Atlanta on April 15, but the Hawks have already wrapped up the top spot in the East and won't catch Golden State for the overall best record. So that figures to be a rest-the-starters game for the Hawks.

Anyway, Sunday's contest arguably means more to the Bulls than the Cavs. The Bulls have a slim one-game lead for third place in the East over Toronto and would lose a tiebreaker because the Raptors are a division champion and the Bulls are not.

The Bulls could win a tiebreaker with the Cavaliers if they can pull out Sunday's game. But even if they do, the Bulls would still be 2 games behind second-place Cleveland with five left to play. If the Bulls won their final five games the Cavs would have to lose twice to face any danger of falling out of second place.

If the Cavaliers win Sunday, their magic number to clinch the No. 2 seed would be down to one.

"It's definitely a meaningful game," Joakim Noah said after Saturday's 88-82 win over Detroit. "They're all meaningful at this point. We're excited, because we know it's going to be a hostile environment and that's always fun."

If the Bulls do end up with the third seed, it would set up a potential second-round meeting with Cleveland. There are no guarantees, but Sunday's game could be a playoff preview.

The Cavaliers have won 17 straight home games, so it could be psychologically significant if the Bulls earned a victory at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavs' home streak began with a win over the Bulls on Jan. 19.

Cleveland forward Kevin Love sat out Thursday's win over Miami with a sore back, but practiced Saturday and said he'll be ready to play against the Bulls. So the Cavs should be at full strength. Unless something surprising happens, the Bulls will be without guards Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich because of knee injuries.

"It's a big game," Taj Gibson said. "We're just trying to figure out where we're at, figure out how much better we can get before the playoffs. It's a big game from the standpoint of that's a playoff team. They've got their mind right. They're pushing toward the right habits. Everybody's pushing to lock in their seed."

The Cavs have had some off nights. Last week, they lost in Brooklyn and barely hung on for a 1-point home win over Philadelphia.

But overall they've gone 30-7 since Jan. 15, right around the time LeBron James came back from a two-week injury rest and the Cavaliers brought in some key arrivals - getting center Timofey Mozgov from Denver, along with guards J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert from New York.

Smith and Mozgov are the team's fourth- and fifth-leading scorers, after the big three of James, Kyrie Irving and Love.

The Bulls still aren't sure where they'll be as a team when the playoff begin. They're hoping Rose, if he doesn't play in Cleveland, will return this week during a two-game trip to Florida. Then he'll need to quickly get back into game shape while the Bulls work to rebuild enough chemistry to earn some playoff victories.

So this would be a nice win for the Bulls if they can get it done, but circumstances will likely be very different if the Bulls and Cavs battle in the playoffs.

"I think we definitely have to play a better overall game than the last two games we've played (against Detroit and Milwaukee)," Pau Gasol said. "It's going to be a challenge for us and we should approach it with everything we've got as it was a playoff game."

• Get the latest Bulls news via Twitter by following @McGrawDHBulls.