Chicago Bulls vs. Miami Heat Preview and thread: can the Bulls get an ‘elite win’?

Chicago Bulls (45-32) vs. Miami Heat (49-28)

Can DeMar DeRozan drop 50 points every night?

If only that could be reality, maybe the Chicago Bulls could actually find a way to beat the Heat. The Bulls are 0-3 against the Heat this season and the last two matchups haven’t been particularly close.

The Bulls quest to avoid the seventh seed is looking much sunnier these days. The Cavaliers have flailed a bit lately and the Bulls are now three games clear of them with five games to go.

Of course, the Bulls last four games aren’t easy. To be honest unless they choose to rest their starters ahead of the playoffs, the Bulls probably aren’t going to beat the Heat and Milwaukee Bucks. Same with the Celtics....probably. Their final two games are against the Charlotte Hornets and Minnesota Timberwolves which aren’t easy games either.

The Bulls are lock-step right now with the Toronto Raptors but do own the tie breaker. So the Bulls still have lots to play for the rest of the regular season. Plus, beating one of the Bucks, Heat, or Celtics over the next couple weeks would be huge for the Bulls given how much they’ve struggled against the top teams this season far.

The Bulls are going to snap a four-year playoff drought. It’s all about playoff positioning the rest of this regular season. Although, to be honest, the Bulls don’t match up particularly well against really any of the top four teams in the Eastern Conference.

I’d imagine we’d be rooting for a first-round matchup against the Boston Celtics? Probably the best of a lot of bad options, right?

It would be a rematch of the last time the Bulls made the playoffs. Is there any obscure rule where we could poach Rajon Rondo from the Cleveland Cavaliers to help us beat the Celtics in the playoffs this year?

Injury Report:

Zach LaVine is on the report with his long-standing knee issues, but is ‘probable’.

For the Heat, all of Max Strus, Caleb Martin, and Bulls-killer Gabe Vincent are questionable.

Game Time: 7:00 CDT; NBC Sports Chicago