The Chicago Bulls will play their final game of the All-Star break on Thursday night when they host the Boston Celtics. The Bulls, who presently hold the #9 seed in the Eastern Conference, are thinking about making the playoffs. Despite a wild and injury-filled season, Chicago is still very much in the running for the postseason.
The Bulls’ season ended there the year before, despite making it to the play-in round. Chicago wishes to move forward this time. Making it to the postseason would be the next stage.
They may accomplish that by either making it into the Eastern Conference’s top six before the regular season concludes or by winning the play-in tournament.
If the Bulls want to avoid the play-in event, they will need to move ahead in the standings. Let’s examine the Bulls’ floor and ceiling in terms of finishing positions in the standings with just 27 games left.
Ground Level
As of right now, the Bulls are 26-29 and lead the Atlanta Hawks, the team just behind them in the standings, by two games. Chicago is surrounded by a few teams, but their floor for the current campaign is probably 11th place. The Bulls are currently seven games clear of the Toronto Raptors, who are in 12th place, and 4.5 games ahead of the Brooklyn Nets, who are in 11th place. Chicago will never drop below 11.
The sixth seed is the Bulls’ ceiling. The Indiana Pacers are 4.5 games ahead of Chicago in sixth place right now. Although difficult, the Bulls are able to catch them. It would be a tremendous accomplishment and a great way to round out the regular season if they could move up to the #6 spot in the rankings.
Though anything might happen, it’s highly likely that the Bulls will place between 11 and 6 in the Eastern Conference.