Bulls drop below .500 as playoff hopes fade
For a second, it looked as though the Chicago Bulls' prayers were finally answered.
Down five with less than 30 seconds to go, Jimmy Butler connected a miraculous three after feeling the weight of Paul Millsap crash down on his shoulder.
Butler toed the line for the four-point play, but they still couldn't pull out the victory against the Atlanta Hawks. Having used up their good fortune on Butler's heroics, the Bulls were victimized by instant karma when Mike Dunleavy's point-blank layup rimmed out to end any hope of a comeback.
With that, Chicago fell 102-100 on Monday, dropped to 36-37 on the year, and slipped to 2.5 games back of the Detroit Pistons for the last playoff spot.
The Bulls hoped their umpteenth team meeting would right the ship before the eve of the postseason.
Having lost their last three games by a combined 42 points to the Orlando Magic and twice to the New York Knicks, players and coaches alike aired out their differences before Monday's game.
"It's just a lot of stuff. To say it's like one thing we're not doing right and that would solve everything, that's just not the case," Dunleavy said. " ... You can go through the whole thing. So from that standpoint I can't sit here and say it's one thing, or we're not playing hard enough. We need to do everything better."
Incredibly, even after an injury-wrought season that saw every single starter miss time, Chicago still had a path to the postseason.
A strong showing this week could see the veteran Bulls sneak into a low playoff seed - a far cry from where they expected to be, but a worthwhile consolation. Yet another date with LeBron James would only have proven fruitless, but a potential showdown with the Toronto Raptors (who they've defeated nine times in a row) could have opened a backdoor to the second round of the playoffs.
Dunleavy called it a "do-or-die week," and fittingly, the Bulls started off on the wrong foot.
Fortunately, the Bulls still have time to get it right. As Dunleavy alluded to, a strong week could pull them back into the postseason picture.
Except, the Bulls are slated to play a jam-packed schedule with five games this week. And with Butler still playing through pain in his left knee, turning around their season will be a tall order.
It starts with a showdown against the Indiana Pacers on a back-to-back. Not only could Chicago climb to within two games back, a win would also give them the tiebreaker against the current seventh seed.
After that, the Bulls take on the Houston Rockets, their Western Conference counterpart in disappointment. Chicago took a win off Houston in Butler's return from knee injury earlier in March, and the Rockets are a perpetual letdown at the Toyota Center.
Then comes the Pistons, who currently sit in eighth. A win would even up the season series at two games apiece. A loss would hand Detroit the tiebreaker and essentially erase any hope of usurping them in the playoffs.
Finally, Chicago travels to nearby Milwaukee for their last game on the week. The Bucks have already been eliminated, but they've become a tough out after Giannis Antetokounmpo seized the reins. Chicago lost in their only other visit to Milwaukee this season, but now they could ill-afford more losses to cellar-dwellers.
A strong week in the nick of time could have the Bulls right back in the mix. But given the way the season's gone, more disappointment is likely in store.