Chicago Bulls Missing a Golden Opportunity in Series vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

If the Chicago Bulls’ season ultimately comes to an end Thursday or Sunday, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves.

Their backs are now against the wall after Tuesday night’s 106-101 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. They trail in the series 3-2 and must win two games in a row to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. They weren’t able to close the right way in either of the last two games, and unless they do Thursday in Chicago and Sunday in Cleveland, they’ll be set for an early summer vacation.

As badly as the Cavaliers outplayed them for all but the first six minutes of Game 5, as dominant as LeBron James was from end to end (38 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, three steals, zero turnovers), the game was still within reach. It was a sort of bizarro-world version of Game 4, where they outplayed the Cavaliers for most of the night and still found a way to give the game away.

The Cavs were the better team Tuesday, and the Bulls still almost—almost—found a way to pull it out. Even after Taj Gibson's untimely (and questionable) ejection for kicking Matthew Dellavedova after Dellavedova locked up his leg, they were right there. A missed Jimmy Butler three-pointer with 45 seconds remaining would have given them the lead.

Until the last two games, everything seemed to be breaking exactly right for the Bulls to take control of the series for good. Even a partial list of the breaks the Bulls have caught is staggering:

• Kevin Love, who could have potentially caused mismatch nightmares for Chicago with his floor-spacing ability, suffered a shoulder injury in Game 4 of the Cavs’ first-round series against the Celtics, knocking him out for the rest of the playoffs. That’s one member of Cleveland’s Big Three out of commission.
• The league suspended J.R. Smith for the first two games of the series for punching Celtics forward Jae Crowder in the face. Smith has been a valuable shot-maker for Cleveland since arriving via a trade with the New York Knicks in January.
• Bulls forward Mike Dunleavy Jr. was not suspended for the first game of the series when he easily could have been, after hitting Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Carter-Williams in the face in the Bulls’ series-clinching Game 6 win in the first round. Dunleavy scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the Bulls’ Game 1 win over the Cavs.
• Through the first four games of the series, Kyrie Irving was mostly awful, admitting that he’s been playing on a bad foot since the Celtics series. He shot 2-of-10 from the field in Game 4, and the following day he was diagnosed with a sprained right foot and left knee tendinitis.

In addition, the Bulls—and in particular Jimmy Butler—were able to mostly render James ineffective on the offensive end through the first four games, forcing careless turnovers and bad shots.

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

The Bulls have been without Pau Gasol for the last two games after he suffered a hamstring injury in Game 3. And while Gasol would have been valuable in providing a low-post scoring presence in the last two contests, that loss alone isn’t enough to equalize the amount of luck the Bulls have had.

It shouldn’t be, anyway, especially since Gasol himself was inconsistent in the first two games of the series, having a huge impact in Game 1 but disappearing in Game 2.

For the most part, the Bulls’ biggest question mark of the postseason—the health and effectiveness of Derrick Rose—has been in their favor. Rose scored 31 points in Game 4 and, after not drawing any free throws in the first two matchups, has much more ably gotten to the free-throw line.

In order to have a shot against the Cavs, the Bulls needed a peak performance from Rose. And with a couple of exceptions, they’ve gotten one.

Yet here we are. Despite all of this in their favor, the Bulls are on the ropes. Their offense has sputtered at inopportune times. Even when they’ve played badly, they’ve stayed in these games and managed to just not do enough to win. And now, that could cost them everything.

The Bulls will never have a better opportunity, at least not with this core, to make a run to the Finals. They’ve caught all the breaks, not just in this series but also around the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Washington Wizards are playing without John Wall, and the Atlanta Hawks have been shaky throughout the postseason after a dominant regular-season showing. If the Bulls somehow manage to win the next two games and get through this series, the Eastern Conference Finals will be theirs for the taking—if they put everything together.

So far, they haven’t been able to do that, despite being given every opportunity.

Sean Highkin covers the Chicago Bulls for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @highkin.