The Bulls give themselves a “chance,” and they wind up playing

A 117-113 loss by the Orlando Magic on Tuesday helped secure the Bulls’ postseason spot and put the final ten teams to make the postseason in the East. However, the Bulls spoiled the chance to move up the standings with a loss at home to the Hawks, who were playing without All-Star guard Trae Young (illness).

“We’re at least glad we’re going to be in it,” Bulls quarterback Nikola Vucevic said after the loss. “Obviously it hasn’t been the season we wanted so far. We were hoping to be higher up the table, but that’s what it is. It will give us a chance to get into the play-offs.”

The Bulls entered the championship game with Miami on Tuesday and could have moved up to ninth with a win. However, Chicago never led in this game as the Hawks opened the game with a score of 13-2.

That victory made Tuesday’s postseason bittersweet for Bulls guard Zack LaVine.

“Each of these games is a must-win game for us,” Lavigne said after scoring 26 points. “Obviously we didn’t perform well enough. They wanted it more than us. It’s upsetting that we’re getting this kind of result at this stage of the season.”

Meanwhile, the Hawks improved to 3-5 without Young and own the same record as the Toronto Raptors. Chicago trails Atlanta and Toronto by two games in the standings with three games remaining in the regular season.

“There are still three more matches to go,” Vucevich said. “We are clearly in a difficult situation.

“We can keep fighting until the end. Keep playing these next three games, focus on ourselves, try to play better and improve the things we need to improve and get into play and try to play as best we can.”