April 02--The Bulls dropped to 45-30 with their road loss against the Bucks. Here are three observations:
The playoff closing rotation will be intriguing to monitor.
Tom Thibodeau is nothing if not a creature of habit and consistency. Lately, he has been playing Nikola Mirotic the entire fourth quarter and Pau Gasol has closed games all season. Playoff basketball is different. It's more physical and defensive-oriented.
Would Thibodeau change and play Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah down the stretch? Much will depend on matchups, obviously. But Wednesday offered an opportunity for Gibson, who had played actively at both ends, to close. Instead, Mirotic did.
Mirotic has been a league leader with fourth-quarter statistics since the All-Star break, so that isn't necessarily wrong. It's just a reflection of the options and choices facing Thibodeau come playoff time.
"He had the five fouls," Thibodeau said of Gibson, when asked if he thought about closing with him. "I wanted to see how it would go. We were trying to get something offensively. And Taj is still working his way back."
The Bulls had no answer for Michael Carter-Williams.
Time and again in the second quarter, Bucks coach Jason Kidd called for Carter-Williams to merely back down the shorter Aaron Brooks and look to be aggressive offensively. Carter-Williams scored 15 straight points.
It's well known Thibodeau typically eschews double-teams. And the Bulls did start showing help on Carter-Williams after halftime, which led to the Bucks getting open looks at the 3-point line as the Bulls tried to close out on shooters. But players openly discussed Carter-Williams' damage afterward.
Gibson said "Carter-Williams was attacking us and at times, we didn't know what to do." Pau Gasol noted how the Bucks double-teamed him on every touch.
"And we didn't do that very much against Carter-Williams," Gasol said. "And he created a lot of problems. So game plan, execution was not good enough."
Asked about the stretch, Thibodeau said of Carter-Williams: "He's got good size. He's going to make some."
The Bulls have struggled of late on the road.
Given that the Bulls have posted their fifth straight winning road record for the first time in franchise history, they've proven they can win on the road. But that's now seven road losses in nine games.
For a team that won't have homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, that's a troubling trend at this time of the season.
