Subscribe
Follow Us
The Chicago Bulls are set to face off against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs. After sitting at or near the top of the Eastern Conference for much of the season, the Bulls stumbled down the stretch thanks in large part to key injuries, which brought out the worst in a talented yet flawed roster.
Both Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso missed extended time, with Ball ultimately getting ruled out for the season. Caruso will play against the Bucks, but he's still battling through injuries. Zach LaVine is also dealing with a nagging knee issue, an injury that has kept him from playing at his peak level for months.
While LaVine's play will be something to watch as he tries to help out Bulls star DeMar DeRozan, who's primed for a big series, that won't be the X-Factor in this series against Milwaukee. There are two other major X-Factors for the Bulls in the first round.
*Watch NBA games LIVE with fuboTV (click for free trial)*
Bulls' X-Factor vs. Bucks
The first key one is a player: Nikola Vucevic.
It has been a roller-coaster season for Vucevic. The Bulls gave up a lot to get him last season, but things haven't worked out quite as hoped. Vooch got off to a sluggish start offensively and then really struggled defensively later in the season when Ball and Caruso missed time. His final averages of 17.6 points, 11.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists still look pretty good, but inconsistency, a massive dip in 3-point shooting down to 31.4% and some notable struggles in key matchups marred his season.
Article Continues Below
One game in which Vucevic really struggled was the fourth and final matchup against the Bucks, which happened in the final week of the regular season. The big man had just seven points on 3-of-19 shooting overall and 1-of-6 from 3-point range. Meanwhile, Brook Lopez dominated to the tune of 28 points on 9-of-14 from the field. Lopez also had seven boards and three blocks, including multiple embarrassing ones of Vucevic.
Needless to say, the Bulls can't afford for Vucevic to get badly outplayed by Lopez if they're going to have any kind of chance. They need to get Vooch going, both in the paint and from the outside as well as on defense to try to slow down Milwaukee. If Vooch can get his jumper rolling in pick-and-pop situations and force Lopez and others to guard him outside, that will open things up a bit more for the likes of DeRozan and LaVine. Lopez's rim protection is such an important part of Milwaukee's strategy to wall off the paint, so Vucevic knocking down jumpers would be huge.
Vucevic being a credible 3-point threat plays into another key X-Factor for the Bulls, and that's simply their 3-point shooting as a team.
Chicago ranked as one of the best 3-point shooting teams in terms of percentage early in the season, but that number dipped coming down the stretch of the season. Making matters worse, the Bulls simply didn't take many 3-pointers, so it was a double whammy. Chicago was last by a wide margin in 3-pointers made and attempted per game after the All-Star break.
Ball's absence played a key role in this, and the Bulls will need other guys to step up. Outside of Vucevic and LaVine, Chicago needs role players such as Coby White, Patrick Williams, Ayo Dosunmu and Alex Caruso, among others, to step up and knock down treys against a Bucks squad that can be susceptible to them. White is capable of 3-point explosions, but he really struggled against the Bucks in the regular season and continued to be streaky overall.
It's a massive long shot for Chicago to win this series, but to have any chance, Vucevic needs to play well and the 3-pointers have to fall. This and much more were discussed on a recent episode of Blue Wire's Cash Considerations podcast to preview the series:
Cash Considerations: A Chicago Bulls Podcast is part of the Blue Wire Podcast Network. The pod can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts.
