March 28--The Chicago Bulls are set to make their final stand when it comes to the Eastern Conference postseason race.
The Bulls have 10 games remaining in the regular season and when they face the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night at the United Center they will enter the contest two games back of the Detroit Pistons for the eighth seed in the East. A three-game losing skid at a most inopportune time has left the Bulls in must-win territory.
"We have to find a way to bounce back, we have to get our morale up, got to keep our heads up, got to fight through adversity and that starts (Monday night)," coach Fred Hoiberg said following Monday's shootaround at the Advocate Center.
"There is a lot of basketball left but we have to take care of business, we have to go take care of ourselves and we're going to need some help. The good thing is we still get opportunities to play some of the teams that we're chasing right now. Obviously, those are critical games. We have a very difficult schedule coming up with a lot of road games against very good teams.
"It starts (Monday night) against a playoff team, a team that had the best record in the Eastern Conference last year and a team that I think is playing as well as anybody in the league right now. We have to come out with great effort. We have to give ourselves a chance. We have not done that the last few games just because of the starts we've gotten off to and given up over 30-point quarters. We've generally won games when we've won the first quarter, especially when we hold teams under 20 points and set the tone defensively. That's gotten away from us."
The Hawks have dominated the Bulls this season, winning the first three meetings by an everage of 17.7 points.
"They've really put it on us and a lot of it is we've come over and been very careless with the ball," Hoiberg said. "We've averaged 20 turnovers against this team that have led to 25 points for them. You have to take care of the basketball; you can't give then three points. They're too good. It's a tough matchup. Their bigs are skilled. They can hit shots, they're great passers, they're great playmakers and they play the right way."
The Bulls are relatively healthy heading into the game with Derrick Rose, Jommy Butler, Pau Gasol and Taj Gibson all expected to play. Gasol said that he's not yet prepared to write off the season.
"We still have a chance," Gasol said. "(It) would be a disappointing season if it would continue on the path we're on now. I'll just do what I can, control what I can control, give my best these last games to help the team. (That's) all I can do."
