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You looking for reasons to buy into the Bulls getting through the NBA play-in tournament for the first time in three chances and into the playoffs for the first time since 2022?<\/p>\n
Yeah, well, you\u2019re going to have to take what you can get.<\/p>\n
One is Josh Giddey. The Bulls, seeded ninth in the Eastern Conference, weren\u2019t certain he\u2019d be able to go Wednesday against the 10th-seeded Heat at the United Center. The 22-year-old guard has been dealing with pain in his left hand and forearm due to something called flexor carpi Ulnaris tendinitis, a not-so-distant cousin of carpal tunnel syndrome. The latter commonly afflicts writers, especially when they\u2019re rigorously typing or wiping spilled food off their shirts. In Giddey\u2019s case, it\u2019s more about dribbling, passing, shooting \u2014 truly important stuff, all of it.<\/p>\n
But Giddey \u2014 demoted from the starting lineup during last year\u2019s playoffs, when he played for Oklahoma City \u2014 isn\u2019t about to miss this chance. Soaring since the trade deadline, a two-plus-month period during which he has averaged nearly a triple-double, he has become an indispensable part of everything this hot Bulls team is doing. Best believe he\u2019ll be out there.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying here in a must-win game? There\u2019s no way I\u2019m going to sit it out,\u201d he said Tuesday after practice at the Advocate Center. \u201cWe\u2019ll do what we can to reduce the pain as much as possible, but come 7 o\u2019clock, there\u2019s no asterisks on the score sheet. So I\u2019ll be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Encouraging words, no doubt. So were these, from enticing rookie Matas Buzelis, only 20:<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t get nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n
And this:<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t lack confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both are way better than the alternatives, you know.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever you get to play for something and compete for something, it definitely fits my nature,\u201d Buzelis said. \u201cI mean, I\u2019m not going to say it doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bulls have to beat the Heat \u2014 which they failed to do in play-in games each of the last two years \u2014 and then hit the road and knock off either the Magic or the Hawks on Friday just to get into a likely unwinnable first-round playoff series against the Cavaliers. It\u2019s not the most promising scenario.<\/p>\n
But maybe this team has something its predecessors didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Long dead is the Big Three. DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine are doing their business elsewhere. Veteran Nikola Vucevic now finds himself surrounded by core teammates a decade or more his junior.<\/p>\n
In its place is the Big Spree \u2014 a team that keeps pushing the pace faster and harder, wearing down more deliberate opponents such as the Heat late in games and somehow, almost impossible to believe given so many Bulls slogs past, winning 15 of 20 in a dazzling sprint to the regular-season finish line.<\/p>\n
Run, shoot, stay hot \u2014 it\u2019s the only way for these Bulls (39-43) to stay alive and advance.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur identity is up and down [the court],\u201d Giddey said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a secret. Everyone knows the way we play.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Coby White binge-scoring, Giddey stuffing the stats sheet with All-Star-like numbers and Buzelis demanding starter\u2019s minutes with his ever-improving play, it\u2019s not only different from the Big Three days. It\u2019s also \u2014 with all due sensitivity to fans given the team\u2019s amateur-hour local television situation \u2014 so much more watchable.<\/p>\n
Maybe you wanted a tank job for NBA lottery purposes. It didn\u2019t happen. If the Bulls\u2019 regular-season success against Miami evaporates Friday and the kiddie core gets schooled, the whole thing could feel like a waste.<\/p>\n
But there has to be something to be gained here, potentially, doesn\u2019t there?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s critical for their development, you know?\u201d coach Billy Donovan said. \u201cI think it\u2019s really important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donovan hasn\u2019t coached a team past the first round of the playoffs since the 2015-16 Thunder made it to the Western Conference finals. Even for a freshly minted Basketball Hall of Famer, the quartet of Final Fours and pair of national championships at Florida are way deep in the rearview.<\/p>\n
Doesn\u2019t he miss the feeling of being in the middle of a postseason run?<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody does,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why you do it. \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201c[But] what about the years that you don\u2019t get there? Is it just a failure and just meaningless? Or how do you find value? I\u2019ve found for myself personally, as a coach, an incredible amount of value coaching these guys. It\u2019s been a lot of fun. It\u2019s been unbelievable right from Day 1.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s nice, but it\u2019s Day 1 of the play-in tournament we\u2019re interested in now. And then any time and any ground that can be clawed and fought for after that. Or run-and-gunned for.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the Big Spree after all, and it might as well mean something.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Run, shoot, stay hot \u2014 it\u2019s the only way for these Bulls to stay alive and advance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":53326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n