Chicago Bulls Playoff Schedule 2015: TV Info and Predictions for 1st Round
The Chicago Bulls entered the 2014-15 season with championship aspirations. They'll enter the playoffs in desperate need of aspiration, having taken gut punch after gut punch all year long on their way to a 50-32 record.
Though far off from October predictions, that record was good enough to earn Chicago a No. 3 seed, its best since Derrick Rose went down with an ACL tear three years ago. Pau Gasol's re-emerged as an All-Star, Jimmy Butler may take home Most Improved Player and head coach Tom Thibodeau's again straddled the line between genius and mania, coaxing the maximum possible effort out of a limited roster.
The reward is a Milwaukee Bucks team that made a 26-win improvement over last season. Buoyed by Jason Kidd's helter-skelter defensive philosophy, Milwaukee ascended from the league's worst record to .500 despite losing rookie Jabari Parker after 25 games. Giannis Antetokounmpo developed from novelty to promising basketball player. Khris Middleton is about to get paid after a Most Improved Player run. And Kidd kept things afloat despite downgrading from Brandon Knight to Michael Carter-Williams at the deadline.
Though Milwaukee compiled a 1-3 regular-season record against its Central Division foe, it got a 95-91 victory over the Bulls earlier this month that should boost the playoff neophytes' confidence. With that in mind, let's take a big-picture look at the Bulls and how you can watch their opening-round series.
Schedule
| 1 | Saturday, April 18 | Milwaukee Bucks at Chicago Bulls | 7 PM ET | ESPN | ESPN3 |
| 2 | Monday, April 20 | Milwaukee Bucks at Chicago Bulls | 8 PM ET | TNT | TBD |
| 3 | Thursday, April 23 | Chicago Bulls at Milwaukee Bucks | 8 PM ET | NBA TV | TBD |
| 4 | Saturday, April 25 | Chicago Bulls at Milwaukee Bucks | 5:30 PM ET | TNT | TBD |
| 5* | Monday, April 27 | Milwaukee Bucks at Chicago Bulls | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| 6* | Thursday, April 30 | Chicago Bulls at Milwaukee Bucks | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| 7* | Saturday, May 2 | Milwaukee Bucks at Chicago Bulls | TBD | TNT | TBD |
Lingering Bulls Questions
Which Version of Derrick Rose Will Show Up?
Let's start with the obvious: It's not going to be the 2011 MVP version. Even the most optimistic Bulls supporters have come to grips with the fact we may never see that player again. Rose's main goal at this point is to avoid a Penny Hardaway/Brandon Roy downturn whereby we're discussing what could have been five years from now.
Since returning from his meniscectomy, Rose has been understandably limited. He's yet to play any more than 28 minutes in a game and has really only shown flashes of his former self on both ends. It's not unlike his performance level during the first half of the season; the Bulls are better when he's around, but superstar-level production came few and far between.
“I’m just trying to push myself, remind myself every time I catch it to just put pressure on the defense,” Rose said, per Michael Lee of The Washington Post. “I know I hate playing against a guard where he’s steady putting pressure on you. I’m just trying to play the way I would normally play in the playoffs and get my condition and get my feet under me at the same time.”
The Bulls without Rose are a legitimate Eastern Conference playoff team. Pau Gasol, Jimmy Butler and Joakim Noah can compete with any Eastern Big Three this side of Cleveland, and there's enough tertiary help here to where a conference finals bid isn't entirely out of the question.
But Chicago isn't taking down the Cleveland Cavaliers or Atlanta Hawks without 75 percent Rose. Butler, for all the strides he's made as an off-the-dribble shot creator, saw those improvements regress to the mean over the second half. The Bulls have also implemented some nifty triangle options around Noah and Gasol, the best passing frontcourt in basketball, but they're generally predictable and can be sussed out over a lengthy series.
Rose remains the only player on this roster capable of throwing his head down and consistently creating something out of nothing. Too often that "something" has been a chucked-up three early in the shot clock, but Chicago's going to need an upgrade from solid to spectacular over the next couple of months. Only Rose can make that happen.
Wherein Joakim Noah Tries Becoming Joakim Noah Again
Lost amid Rose's absence has been a markedly down season for the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. Battling through injuries that keep him on a minutes limit, Noah saw his points per game cut by more than five, his rebounds drop below 10 a night for just the second time in six seasons and his other defensive metrics drop markedly.
Opponents shot nearly 52 percent when Noah was within five feet of the basket this season, a drop of more than 4 percent from 2013-14. Factor in a career-worst shooting percentage and the fact that the Bulls were nearly three points per 100 possessions better with him on the bench, and it's a wonder we haven't heard more about his decline.
"It's frustrating," Noah told reporters of his minutes restriction in March. "But I think I'm not the only one who's frustrated sometimes. I think it's part of the grind. But I'm just trying to stay focused on what's important: trying to win basketball games. I'm not trying to get caught up in any noise or anything like that. I don't want to be a distraction. We'll figure it out internally and do what's best for the team."
Noah's struggles have combined with a down year from Taj Gibson to make Chicago more vulnerable inside than it thought possible. Pau Gasol's improved from his defensive nadir in Los Angeles, but he's 34 years old. Lateral movement is no longer part of his vocabulary, and his best form of defense at this point is standing there and being super tall (7'0").
Noah has been the two-way linchpin during Rose's prolonged absence, developing into one of the NBA's best passing big men and wreaking havoc defensively. He's one of a handful of big men long and athletic enough to chase opposing point guards—a rare freedom in Tom Thibodeau's system—and protect the rim at an elite level.
The Bulls finishing outside the top 10 in defensive rating is perhaps the best evidence we have of how far Noah's fallen this season. Like Rose, I have no clue if he'll be able to get right for the playoffs. I know for sure Chicago isn't going anywhere unless he does.
Prediction
Brace yourself: Despite all the negativity above, the Bulls are clear favorites in this series. This is not the overextended bunch we saw last year playing out the string on its last legs. Chicago arguably has more depth than at any point during the Thibodeau era, even if much of it has landed on the injury report for one ailment or another.
The Bucks are an interesting lot but far more for their individual parts than taken as a whole. I'm still flabbergasted by the Carter-Williams move, which coincided with Milwaukee dropping off the planet after the All-Star break. That's not a coincidence.
Knight gave the Bucks an above-average off-the-dribble creator who could also act as a floor-spacer when he was playing off-guard. Carter-Williams is borderline broken offensively and gets overrated at points on the other end due to his steal total.
Putting Carter-Williams and Antetokounmpo on the floor together gives Milwaukee two players defenses can totally ignore outside 15 feet. If there is any coach at basketball who will relish in exploiting that fact, it's Thibodeau.
That said, nothing here is going to be made easy. Milwaukee has defended like gangbusters all season, using its freakish length to force turnovers and get transition buckets. Rose, who has been prone to coughing up the ball, is going to have a game or two where he may be borderline unplayable. We're also going to see a few contests where the winner is in the high 80s/early 90s. Don't expect this to mimic Golden State-New Orleans.
With Milwaukee trending downward, though, this should be five games and out for Chicago.
Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.
All advanced stats courtesy of NBA.com.
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