Bulls vs Spurs NBA Handicapping
Here’s what we know about the Eastern Conference playoffs, which don’t get under way until the middle of April:
1. The Heat will be the top seed.
Chicago Bulls (34-26) at San Antonio Spurs (47-14)
Wednesday, March 6
AT&T Center, San Antonio
9 p.m. EST
Spread – Spurs -7.5 at BOVADA
O/U – 191.5
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2. The Pacers and Knicks will be 2-3, or 3-2.
3. The other five teams in the mix will be Brooklyn, Atlanta, Boston, Milwaukee and Chicago, in some order that probably won’t be determined until the last musket is fired.
Everyone wants to avoid the 8th seed and a first-round elimination date with the Heat, a thought which until recently never crossed the minds of fans in Chicago.
But the way the Bulls have been playing recently, a free fall to the bottom of the playoff heap looks entirely possible.
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Chicago’s started innocently enough with a head-scratching loss to the Wizards in late January, a defeat which kicked off an 8-10 stretch which has removed the Bulls from the conference elite and raised two key questions: When is Derrick Rose coming back, and is Tom Thibodeau wearing out his starters?
Rose has finally been sighted on the Bulls’ bench, albeit in street clothes. “It’s just the next step,” said Thibodeau of Rose’s presence during games. “He may not even be out there all the time.
If he wants to come out, great. If he doesn’t, that’s fine, too. Again, his focus has to be on the rehab.
The team has to focus on our improvement and our next game. So at some point he’ll be ready to go.” [ad-6571516]
Rose has made it clear that he’s not coming back until he feels he’s 100 percent good to go, and since the league’s best offensive PG isn’t talking much, no one knows when that will be.
Until that question is answered, focus in Chicago is on the team’s recent struggles.
The bump in the road has included a 71-69 loss in Boston which may have been one of the worst games in the history of the NBA and a defeat at home to the Cavaliers.
Thibodeau, considered on the league’s top coaches, is starting to take a little heat for keeping his bigs on the floor for huge minutes. Luol Deng played 44 minutes in a recent game against Brooklyn, and Joakim Noah played more than 40 four times in the last 10 games, including 45 against the 76ers.
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Would have been an interesting late-season PG battle between Rose and Tony Parker. Parker’s absence was hardly noticed in SA’s 114-75 victory over the Pistons, who appear to have officially started playing out the string.
Tonight will be a bigger test as Chicago’s pressure defense and tightened rotation is tested by the Spurs’ deep bench.
Expecting same-old, same-old here with the Spurs getting it done sans Parker.
Totals players should be aware that the Bulls have scored in triple digits only once in the last month, and the Spurs might take a few quarters to figure things out in their first decent test without Parker.
