The Quest for a Title
Bulls Preparing for the Tough Road to a Championship
Scott Strazzante/Chicago Tribune/MCT
The Chicago Bulls’ Jimmy Butler, right, ties up Washington Wizards’ Marcin Gortat during the fourth quarter of Game 1 of NBA Eastern Conference quarterfinals at United Center in Chicago, Sunday, April 20, 2014. The Wizards defeated the Bulls, 102-93.
With a tough regular season over with, there is no time for the Bulls to take a break.
The Bulls started their season rough. First their leader Derrick Rose went down with a torn meniscus that ended his season for the second straight year and they began losing hope when they started their season with a 9-16 record. Then their second best player Luol Deng got traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But maybe losing Rose wasn’t such a bad thing. The Bulls were in need of a point guard to fill Rose’s spot and they hit the jackpot when they signed D.J. Augustin on December 13 shortly after his release from the Toronto Raptors. D.J. turned out to be even more than the Bulls could have hoped for. Since joining the team he has led the hungry Bulls to a 37-16 record, according to the Bulls online app.
“The part that I think is special about the team is their willingness to play for each other,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said in an interview before the Bulls first playoff game. “The commitment they’ve made to play as a team and overcome whatever’s in front of us.”
With their second half record the Bulls find themselves tied for the third spot in the Eastern Conference but will be placed in the fourth seed.
“I think we are playing pretty well,” said Bulls center Joakim Noah in an interview with Bulls insider Sam Smith on the Bulls mobile app. “ I think we are a confident group right now. We definitely learned from the experiences and I think, yeah, our team is better. We’ve gone through a lot. We’re playing good basketball, we’re confident and were ready for these playoffs.”
The Bulls are matched up with in the Washington Wizards in the playoffs, and they know they have a chance to win. This season was a bumpy road for them to start off. But they started getting back to what they do best and that’s playing defense. They are ranked in the top ten by ESPN in every category on that side of the ball, and because of it they are able to compete with the best teams in the league. How far the Bulls will go in the playoffs will be based off their defense.
So buckle up, Chicago. The Bulls are confident and ready to stampede through the playoffs!
