Fresh off locking in a play-in berth, the Chicago Bulls aim to improve their postseason seeding — starting with their home game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday.
After beating the Toronto Raptors 137-118 on Tuesday night, Chicago (34-42) cannot finish lower than 10th in the Eastern Conference.
Mathematically, the Bulls can still finish as high as seventh in the conference.
“That’s the mentality, yes,” Chicago coach Billy Donovan said, when asked if his team is focusing on climbing up the standings. “We’ve put the standings up there on the board. I get where we’re at in the totality of the league. The reality is we’re at the bottom of the league in the East (play-in seeds). But we’re fighting for an opportunity to potentially have to win one or two games … if that happens, you’re in the playoffs.”
Coby White, who scored 28 points against Toronto, was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for March. He is the first member of the Bulls to receive the monthly honor since DeMar DeRozan — now with the Sacramento Kings — in October 2022.
White, who is averaging 20.4 points per game on the season, averaged 27.7 points last month across 15 games in which he led Chicago to a 9-6 record.
“I’m blessed to be fortunate enough to be in this situation,” he said. “It’s good to clinch a (play-in) spot, but obviously we want to make a run for the playoffs.”
Talen Horton-Tucker added 27 points against the Raptors, while Nikola Vucevic (22 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists) and Josh Giddey (17 points, seven boards, 12 assists) both flirted with triple-doubles.
Portland (34-43) kept its flickering Western Conference play-in hopes alive by also beating Toronto, 112-103 on Thursday.
The Trail Blazers, currently 12th in the West, moved to within 1 1/2 games of the Phoenix Suns and 2 1/2 behind Sacramento.
The race between those three sides for 10th spot could go down to the wire, with Portland vying for its third successive win, and the Suns and Kings currently in losing streaks.
With four of their top six scorers out injured — Anfernee Simons (forearm), Jerami Grant (knee), Deandre Ayton (calf) and Scoot Henderson (concussion protocol) — the Blazers need their healthy contingent to continue to go above and beyond.
Shaedon Sharpe did that, as the Ontario native tied his career high with 36 points against the Raptors. Deni Avdija paired 26 points with 15 rebounds, and Dalano Banton had 23 points.
Portland coach Chauncey Billups has been imploring Sharpe to step up his aggression with the team missing many players, and the third-year guard delivered.
“I’ve really challenged Shaedon in that department because I want to push him and see how far he can go,” Billups said. “I think when he’s aggressive, he learns more about himself, he learns more about his game.
“Shaedon is learning so much about himself while being aggressive the entire time. And we’re all learning at the same time … I was really impressed with his game. He was like poetry in motion out there.”
