Chicago Bulls: Final month of 2018-2019 schedule will loom large
By Ryan Heckman
A triple dose of the Sixers
There will be no tougher trio of games in the final month of the season than taking on the Philadelphia 76ers three times. That’s right. Within the last month or so of the season, the Bulls and Sixers will battle it out three different times:
Wednesday March 6th (Home)
Saturday April 6th (Home)
Wednesday April 10th (Away)
Fortunately, two of these games are at the United Center. Unfortunately, the one in Philadelphia ends up being the very last game of the season. With the way the East could shake out, there’s not telling which teams will be fighting for the remaining two or three spots.
Philadelphia figures to be in contention for the number one seed in the East, along with the Boston Celtics and maybe the Toronto Raptors, who added Kawhi Leonard this summer.
Bulls: Predicting the good, bad and likely for Jabari Parker. light. Read
Obviously, the big matchup in this one will be big man Joel Embiid versus Carter. At times, you might see Lauri Markkanen matched up against Embiid. But, for simplicity’s sake, it’s Carter. Embiid is a problem, and the Bulls know that. He’s one of the more well-rounded centers in the game, and has the ability to take over on any given night.
Key Matchup: Jabari Parker vs. Ben Simmons
One matchup I am not looking forward to in these three games is watching Parker try his best to keep up with Ben Simmons. Parker is bigger, slower and a much worse defender. Simmons, meanwhile, is an athletic wing who makes a living both on defense as well as facilitating on offense. Parker could end up getting toasted in all three of these games, barring a miracle.
The key here will be winning two of these three contests for the Bulls. An outcome like that could provide a huge lift going into (potentially) the postseason. If the Bulls drop all three (which is very possible), their playoff hopes may be crushed.