For weeks the Chicago Bulls’ chances of reaching the Eastern Conference play-in tournament have been hanging by a thread. Yet, no matter how low their odds sunk, , they remained determined to fight to extend their postseason hopes as long as possible.
The Bulls lived to fight another day with a 114-102 victory on Thursday night against the Toronto Raptors, defeating a shell of their roster with seven rotation players sitting out. It’s the Bulls fourth win in the past five games, as they continue to put pressure on the Washington Wizards for the final play-in berth.
Even with Thursday’s win, there’s plenty of work to be done for the Bulls to reach the postseason. They have only one path remaining to make the play-in: win both of their remaining games and hope the Wizards lose out. So while the Bulls’ late-season push is admirable, it still seems almost certain to fall short.
Washington is coming off back-to-back losses to the Atlanta Hawks with guard Bradley Beal out for a hamstring injury, but they have a much softer final two games this weekend.
On Friday, the Wizards host the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have already been eliminated from playoff contention and just snapped an 11-game losing streak by defeating the Boston Celtics. Washington faces the Charlotte Hornets in their regular-season finale on Sunday afternoon.
The Bulls caught a break with the Raptors on Thursday. Their final two games are much less forgiving.
Saturday afternoon the Bulls play a road game against the Brooklyn Nets before closing the season Sunday night against the Milwaukee Bucks. They will need victories over the conference’s No.2 and 3 seeds, respectively, to have any chance at making the play-in tournament.
