Washington Wizards Are Chicago Bulls' Biggest Hurdle to Title Contention
CHICAGO — The Chicago Bulls’ path to title contention has always hinged on health, but it may also depend on something else: avoiding a matchup with the Washington Wizards.
The Wizards, who beat the Bulls 105-99 on Wednesday night for the second time in a week, have proved to be their most difficult opponent out of the Eastern Conference contenders. It dates back to last season, when the Wizards eliminated the higher-seeded Bulls in the first round of the playoffs.
In particular, Washington’s big men, Marcin Gortat and Nene, had their way with Chicago’s frontcourt at both ends in that series. That hasn’t changed this year, even with new personnel—Pau Gasol couldn’t score on Nene in the post on Wednesday, and the Bulls’ only big man capable of defending him was Taj Gibson.
The Bulls are still the most talented team in the Eastern Conference when everybody is healthy. But that caveat has proved a difficult obstacle to overcome—out of the 40 games Chicago has played this season, it's had its entire starting lineup healthy for just 15.
The Bulls have been without Mike Dunleavy’s steady three-point shooting for the past seven games due to an ankle injury, and Joakim Noah went down with an ankle injury of his own at halftime on Wednesday.
Nobody in the Bulls locker room wants to acknowledge that the Wizards are an especially bad matchup. Their mantra during this stretch, from Tom Thibodeau on down, has been that they’re always vulnerable.
“They’re an NBA team,” Derrick Rose said after the game. “Anybody can come in here and beat you any night. It's just that they got good players on their team. They run their offense to a T, they execute great, and the ball goes where it's supposed to go.”
That’s what the Bulls do, too, when they’re healthy and focused. But that hasn’t been the case for over a week now, and if they find themselves in a playoff matchup against this Wizards team, they will have to show more.
The Atlanta Hawks, whom the Bulls face on Saturday, are the hottest team in the Eastern Conference at the moment. That game will be the Bulls’ next big test, their next possible playoff preview.
The Hawks have everything: solid team defense, shooting (Kyle Korver is on pace for an absurd 50/50/90 season), physical inside presence with Paul Millsap and Al Horford and a deep bench. The Bulls have all of those things, too. At least, they’re supposed to.
Chicago matched up well against the Toronto Raptors, beating them in both of their battles this season. None of the Raptors’ big men can guard Gasol. The return of DeMar DeRozan to the lineup after a six-week absence makes Toronto more dangerous, but the Raptors have proved to be the opposite of the Wizards: The team Chicago should most hope to face in the playoffs.
The Cleveland Cavaliers could screw up the Eastern Conference playoff forecast for everybody, but nobody knows what they are right now. They got LeBron James back on Tuesday, but there are still issues with Kevin Love’s fit, integrating J.R. Smith and the never-ending drama with head coach David Blatt.
What they are now may not be what they are in April, when they presumably will play one of the top four teams as a fifth seed. If they are able to put everything together between now and then, their top-end talent could be too much to overcome for any of the other teams. But as of now, it’s hard to look at the train wreck that has played out in Cleveland and view it as a real threat.
That leaves Washington as the Bulls’ kryptonite, and Chicago hasn’t shown that it would be able to overcome the Wizards in a seven-game series. The addition of longtime Bulls nemesis Paul Pierce—whom Thibodeau knows well from his days as an assistant coach in Boston—makes the Wizards even more dangerous than they were a year ago when they came into the United Center and quieted a Bulls playoff crowd with a dominating performance at both ends of the floor.
Part of the Wizards’ success against the Bulls this season has come from catching them at a particularly tough time. Chicago has lost four of its last five, including two to the Wizards and two to lottery teams, the Utah Jazz and Orlando Magic.
They’re not playing like the title contender they’re supposed to be. Part of that is due to injuries, but part of it is focus. Even Thibodeau, who is constantly banging the drum of “next man up,” is getting frustrated with the lack of consistency in the players he has available.
“It’s tough to build continuity when we have guys in and out all the time,” the coach said after the game. “But that’s our reality. We can’t make excuses.”
The Bulls have proved many times that they can win shorthanded. Ideally, they won’t have to this year. When they’re at full strength, they’re as dangerous as any team in the NBA. But even if and when that happens, the Wizards will be there waiting, the last puzzle for them to solve.
The Bulls’ title hopes rest on their ability to get over that hurdle.
Sean Highkin covers the Chicago Bulls for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @highkin.
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