The Bulls and Hawks have been destined to face each other since Jan. 15. That’s when these teams first fell into the 9/10 spots in the East.
Amazingly, neither team has shifted in position since then.
One of the Bulls and Hawks will be eliminated on April 17 in what I am dubbing the Trae-In game. Why? This will be Trae Young’s third consecutive appearance in the Play-In Tournament. The three-time All-Star is 3-0 in the Play-In Tournament, winning two games in 2022 to earn the No. 8 seed and one game in 2023 for the No. 7 seed.
The season series between the two sides was close: Chicago won 2-1 but outscored Atlanta by only three points total.
Here’s everything you need to know about this must-win game.
MORE: TSN’s Steph Noh shares his expert All-NBA picks
The Hawks have not been a good road team this season. The Bulls don’t have a great home-court advantage, though, going 20-21 in the United Center.
Missing Jalen Johnson is going to hurt the Hawks a lot. He’s been a candidate for Most Improved Player. (Chicago’s Coby White should win the award). Johnson’s versatility unlocks a lot of the unique things that Atlanta does on offense.
The Bulls will also likely extend the minutes of their secret weapon, Alex Caruso. They are a completely different team when he’s on the floor but can only throw him out there for under 29 minutes per game during the regular season because of the punishment he puts his body through.
The Bulls are the slightly healthier team and can scale up for this game. These teams are even on paper, but I’ll give the edge to the Bulls.
The Bulls open as 3.5-point favorites against the Hawks per BetMGM.
Injury reports have not yet been released, but both teams are missing key rotation players.
The Bulls have played without Zach LaVine, Patrick Williams and Lonzo Ball for most of the season.
The Hawks will be missing Saddiq Bey, Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu.
The broadcast schedule for the Play-In Tournament hasn’t been released yet, but all six games will be televised on TNT and ESPN.
Viewers can also live stream Play-In Tournament games with Sling.
Sling is the home for avid sports fans offering a range of sports channels so you can always cheer for your favorite teams with channels like ESPN, TBS, TNT, NFL Network, FS1 and more.
DeRozan is the Bulls’ best player and their do-everything engine on offense. He has not gotten nearly enough praise for leading the league in minutes at the age of 34 and averaging 23.9 points per game on good efficiency. He remains one of the best isolation players in the game.
The Hawks would traditionally use Bey as their DeRozan stopper. Since he’s out, De’Andre Hunter will get the primary assignment. Wesley Matthews has also done a terrific job on DeRozan over the years, but the veteran 3-and-D specialist hasn’t been a big part of Atlanta’s rotation this season.
The Hawks’ strategy in guarding the DeRozan pick-and-roll in the regular season was to drop Clint Capela, taking away DeRozan’s ability to drive to the rim. They essentially ignored Nikola Vucevic on pick-and-pops, instead having their centers key in on containing DeRozan. He was still good enough to beat those matchups.