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The Chicago Bulls are in an interesting position with just four games left in the regular season. Right now, the Bulls are in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, and they lead the Miami Heat by half of a game. Chicago is just one game back of the Atlanta Hawks for eighth place, but Tuesday's injury report suggests that they aren't trying to catch Atlanta. The Bulls are taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night, and they are resting star player Coby White.
Coby White has been one of the best players in the NBA for the past couple of months. He won Eastern Conference Player of the Month in March, and White is off to a scorching hot start in April as well. He will not play on Tuesday night.
The Bulls are clearly putting all of their resources into Wednesday's game against the Miami Heat, which is a big one for obvious reasons. The Cavaliers haven't clinched the one seed yet, so they will not be resting players as they need to get that top seed locked up first. Even at full strength, this would be an incredibly tough game for the Bulls to win.
Tuesday night's game is the first of a back-to-back as the Bulls have their game against the Heat in Chicago less than 24 hours later. Playing everyone against the Cavaliers could tire the team out, and that would run the risk of falling into 10th place. That is why Coby White is resting.
With this move by the Bulls, it's safe to say that the team is going for the nine-seed in the play-in tournament. The Bulls would host their first game, and if they win that, then they would play the loser of the seven vs. eight game. A win in that game would send Chicago to the playoffs as the eight-seed.
Finishing in eighth place makes a huge difference because the Bulls would only need one win to make it into the playoffs, and they can also afford a loss. Finishing in ninth place means you need to go 2-0 to make the playoffs. Finishing in eighth place means that you can go 1-1 and make it.
With Coby White out against the Cavaliers, you have to assume that the Bulls aren't going to pull off this upset. They will also be without Tre Jones, Kevin Huerter and potentially Nikola Vucevic and Josh Giddey as well. That will set up a huge matchup with the Heat on Wednesday. The two teams will likely be tied in the Eastern Conference standings, so the winner of that game will be in great shape for ninth place as there will be just two games after.
