Can Bulls beat good teams? They'll get another chance in Miami
There's a good example in Bulls history of regular-season matchups meaning nothing when it comes to the playoffs.
The 2010-11 team, coached by Tom Thibodeau and led by MVP Derrick Rose, went 3-0 against Miami during the regular season, then dropped the Eastern Conference finals to the Heat in five games.
But it's true the current Bulls haven't fared well against the NBA's best teams. After Saturday's loss to Memphis, the Bulls are 2-11 against teams with a .600 winnings percentage, 6-14 against teams .550 or better and 12-16 against teams above. 500.
Of course, it's easy to put qualifiers on that record. The five losses to Memphis, Golden State and Phoenix have nothing to do with the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Bulls lost at Cleveland and Miami in December while DeMar DeRozan was in health and safety protocols, and most of these games happened with both sides less than full strength.
The Bulls have a chance to move back into a tie for first place in the East on Monday when they visit Miami. Heat guard Kyle Lowry won't play due to personal reasons, according to the injury report.
The Bulls' first game in Miami wasn't competitive without DeRozan and others. When the Heat beat the Bulls at the United Center on Nov. 27, Lowry and Gabe Vincent hit 7 of 11 shots from 3-point range in the fourth quarter.
No matter the circumstances, the Bulls need to keep winning in order to enhance their chances of having a good playoff experience. A veteran postseason squad like Milwaukee or Philadelphia may not care about its seed. But the Bulls could help themselves considerably by finishing in the top two, which would give them a play-in tournament survivor in the first round and potentially homecourt advantage in the second round.
The Bulls seemed overmatched against Ja Morant and the Grizzlies for about 3½ quarters on Saturday, then used a 14-0 run to get back into the game. The Bulls ended up with plenty of chances at the end and the outcome could have easily changed with one rebound, one more made shot or one call.
"We have to do a better job coming out of the gate with the right attention to detail," Zach LaVine said after the game. "I feel like if we played the game more physical, offensively and defensively, we could have had a totally different outcome."
The big-picture problem for the Bulls right now is they rank 19th in the NBA in defensive rating, which is slightly better than Brooklyn, but behind every other East contender. Boston ranks second, Cleveland fourth, Miami sixth and Philadelphia 10th.
Is there a chance the Bulls' defense could get back to top-10 level by getting Alex Caruso, Lonzo Ball and Patrick Williams back from injury? Well, the Bulls did rank sixth in defensive rating in October, 11th in November, 22nd in December, 25th in January and 20th in February. So who's on the floor does make a difference.
Another issue right now is the Bulls got strong performances from center Nikola Vucevic before the break while LaVine was out with a sore left knee. In two games with LaVine back, Vucevic has hit 9 of 30 shots, 0-for-7 from 3-point range. Keeping Vucevic productive while LaVine and DeRozan are on the floor remains a challenge.
Coby White was on a heater before the break, hitting 21 of 33 attempts from 3-point range in the four games before the break, mostly while starting in LaVine's place. He hit 1 3-pointer against Atlanta, but got it going a little bit against Memphis, going 3 of 6 for 15 points.
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