It's Go Time

This next stretch of the schedule is both tough and an opportunity for the Bulls. But it all has to start on Saturday Night!!! The Bulls take on the Sixers at home and Philly is on the second game of a back to back. So winning this game is going to set the tone for the entire Circus Trip. If the Bulls beat Philly they will move to 5-4, and then their trip starts in Sac-town. A very winnable game against a team that is really really terrible and is missing it's best player (K-Mart). You win that game and you move to 6-4 and it gives a little cushion to stay at .500 during the trip. The next four games are obviously very tough. The Bulls aren't going to beat the Lakers in LA, it's just not going to happen. They could beat Denver in the altitude, but I doubt it (unless the refs feel sorry for the Bulls after the overturned called that I will not talk about). So that puts the Bulls at 6-6, which is pretty good considering who they had to play to start the season. I figure a split between Portland and Utah is a pretty good possibility and then they wrap up with a road game just up I94 at Milwaukee. And with Redd still out there is no reason for Chicago to ever, and I mean EVER lose to the BUCKS!!! Which means the Bulls should be 8-7 when this trip ends. If that's the case, they are in great shape moving forward because December sees them play 11 home games versus only 4 road games. They do play both the Celtics and Lakers in December, but that means they won't have to play the Lakers again, and if somehow they can beat the Celts at the United Center it sends a big message to the rest of the league (although I don't think they can beat Boston with KG, they are just too tough defensively).

BUT all of this starts with a win at home vs. Philly. If they lose that game this team really could spiral out of control. You can't head out for six games losing three in a row, especially the way they lost the last two: An overturned call, and missing their last 15 shots from the field, that just spells disaster on a long west coast trip. I also don't think VDN is a good enough coach to motivate his team away from the ledge if it loses four, five, or six games in a row this early in the season.

So if they do as I think they will, the team should be set up for a nice little run in December. I could see them going 10-5 or even 11-4, which would put them right in the thick of the 4/5 seed in the East, which should be the goal this season!