A new chapter of the I-94 Rivalry awaits
The Bulls meet the Bucks in their first playoff appearance since the 2016-17 season
It's been long assured that the Chicago Bulls would be a playoff team in 2022 — now, after almost too much regular-season drama and hand-wringing, they know their opponent, a pretty familiar bunch from about 90 minutes to the North.
Shorty after tip-off in Minnesota Sunday evening, the Bulls were made aware that they'd square off with the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks in the first-round.
This will rather clearly be an arduous and very trying task for them to take on, as the Bucks swept their season series 4-0 and did so rather handily in the latter two match-ups - winning by an average of 24.5 points while posting 126 and 127 respectively.
Their roster, led by maybe the most difficult player to match-up with in the league in two-time MVP and Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, is one that is a contrast to the strengths of the Bulls defense.
The freakiest of Greeks will be the focal point of all game-planning from Billy Donovan and company, but Milwaukee is also armed with elite ancillary players who play well off each other.
For the Bulls, DeRozan averaged 31.3 points per game in the four regular season bouts with Milwaukee including 7.8 free throw attempts, which is a great segue into our closing stanza.
Key Stats:
*Bucks vs Bulls in season series
Free throws (26.5 average to 15.3)
3-point shooting (32 percent vs 30%)
Points in the Paint (51.5 average to 35.5)
These three dynamics were arguably the main determinants in the point differential during the regular season series between these teams. The Bucks are a rare team that offers match-up issues for the Bulls at just about every position — they can play bigger than the Bulls, and as shown by their post-championship acquisition Grayson Allen, they don’t mind getting a little “playoff” dirty either.
The Bulls must neutralize if not win in these entities of the game to give themselves that punchers chance late in games, where DeRozan has been the league’s best performer, averaging 8.4 points per fourth to tie with Giannis Antetokounmpo, but De'Rozan’s 612 total points paced the league.
The series is set to tip-off Sunday evening. Game 1 will be on TNT and start at 5:30 p.m. central time.