CHICAGO — Most people wouldn’t consider a midweek game between two sub-.500 teams in early April as particularly meaningful, but those cynics don’t appreciate the magnitude of home-court advantage in the 9-10 game of the Play-In Tournament.
“We knew coming into the game what a win or a loss meant,” Bulls guard Josh Giddey said.
“Obviously, this was a big game for both teams,” Bulls guard Coby White said.
With a 119-111 win over Miami on Wednesday night at the United Center, the Bulls (37-43) gained a game on the Heat (36-44) with two to go. Chicago swept the season series, so it has the tiebreaker.
I hope the Heat players like that postgame Giordano’s spread, because they’ll be back here next Wednesday in a loser-go-home game.
While it’s still possible for the Bulls to move into the 7-8 game — the quick-lane pass to the real playoffs, currently occupied by Orlando and Atlanta — it’s looking like these teams could play again here next week for the third in a trilogy. Yes, it would be their third straight meeting in the Play-In Tournament, but the first time the game would be in Chicago. Maybe that’ll help the Bulls, seeing as they lost the first two.
Josh Giddey’s triple-double boosts the Bulls to No. 9 in the East!
🔥 28 PTS
🔥 16 REB
🔥 11 AST
🔥 3 BLK
🔥 2 STL
🔥 57.9 FG%The @chicagobulls are now JUST 0.5 GB of No. 8 ATL. pic.twitter.com/JtiJ2EYTay
— NBA (@NBA) April 10, 2025
Chicago hosted the 9-10 game last year and, to be honest, the atmosphere was pretty intense as White torched the Atlanta Hawks with 42 points. It brought back memories of yesteryear when the Bulls were relevant on the national stage.
They’re not, of course, which is the problem. The rest of the league was focused Wednesday night on Luka Dončić returning to Dallas or Denver playing its first game since Michael Malone and Calvin Booth were fired. Heat-Bulls, once a premier matchup, was not on anyone’s radar outside of their respective cities.
For the Bulls, a Play-In type of organization, Wednesday’s win and next Wednesday’s rematch are about as big as it gets.
“We’ll see where we end up after 82 games,” Giddey said. “But we’re confident we can go into a Play-In game and beat anybody. So whoever we get, we’ll be ready for them.”
Giddey looks ready. He racked up another triple-double — 28 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists — as he finishes off a contract season. I can just see the Bulls overpaying for him this summer. Giddey led Chicago in scoring as its starters combined for 105 points after most of them sat the night before in a blowout loss to Cleveland. Kevin Huerter scored 22, Nikola Vučević had 20, White had 18 (in an off shooting night) and rookie Matas Buzelis finished with 17.
The Bulls wouldn’t tank their season to get a chance at a top draft pick, but they did rest players to get a chance at a home Play-In game. That mindset is part of the reason why fans are fed up with the organization, which seems to value small victories over the big picture. But give Artūras Karnišovas and coach Billy Donovan credit, they said at the beginning, they were focused on winning this season, not tanking. And they won just enough.
Winning both Play-In games and getting out of the lottery would be detrimental to their future, as lotto-ball luck is their only real hope going forward, but what can they do about it now? They let DeMar DeRozan walk in free agency and traded Alex Caruso and Zach LaVine and the Bulls are two wins away from equaling last season’s record.
Yeah, it’s great the Bulls are playing fast and shooting 3s, but they’re not any better for it. They’re not any worse either.
As much as Donovan deserved his Hall of Fame nod for his work at the University of Florida, the Bulls barely have sniffed .500 in their last three seasons. I bring this up all the time because it astounds me: The latest they’ve been even (no great feat) in any of the past three seasons was Nov. 7, 2022, when they were 3-3. That’s on the players, sure, but it’s really an indictment of the entire organization.
That the Bulls have made the Play-In in each of those seasons is why I continually mock the existence of the tournament. It’s the participation trophy of the NBA and it rewards false-hustle front offices like the Bulls.
If team president Michael Reinsdorf were smart, he’d be thinking about an organizational overhaul as soon as this season ends. But I don’t know what the standards are here anymore. Actually, I do. It’s what you see almost every night as the Bulls field a team just good enough to almost be relevant.
In a building where success was once determined in June, the Bulls are just playing to be in the Play-In.
(Photo of Bam Adebayo dribbling against Nikola Vučević: Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)