While all eyes are on the Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers on the Eastern Conference, and the Golden State Warriors and the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference, the Chicago Bulls is actually inching itself to very good playoff seeding.
With a 34-20 win-loss record going into the NBA All-Star Weekend, the Bulls are safely in the third spot behind the Atlanta Hawks and the Toronto Raptors.
The even better news for the Bulls and their fans is that Derrick Rose is still not yet in his MVP form the way he showed during the 2011-12 NBA season.
The chief Bull is still playing inconsistently, doing well in one game, and then faring mediocre on the next game. Despite Rose’s inconsistency and the absence of Joakim Noah, the Bulls are still finding ways to win.
On February 12 however, Derrick Rose showed his brilliant form to date in the current NBA season with an impressive all-around game en route to piling 30 points on 12 of 24 shooting and beating LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-98.
The Cavaliers is the second hottest team in the Eastern Conference two weeks before the All-Star break, winning 14 of their last 15 games before going up against the Bulls. The Cavs was also fresh from a 12-game winning streak that was snapped by the Indiana Pacers last week.
While everybody in the Windy City is looking forward to Derrick Rose finally recapturing his old form, his very impressive game against the Cavaliers got them really excited. Every NBA game enthusiast really expects that the Bulls will go deep into the playoffs with a healthy Derrick Rose on the team.
Rose is indeed starting to hum and it is just a matter of him being consistent before everybody place their bet again on the Bulls to make a dash to the playoff for a very good seeding.
Yahoo! Sports cites that when Derrick Rose gets to the level of consistent play just like his MVP season, the Bulls will really be one of the fun teams to watch leading to the playoffs.
Not an All-Star for the 3rd year
For three years in a row, Derrick Rose will not be playing in the NBA All-Star. The first two were obviously because he was injured and this year is due to the fact that he is still underplaying from his true capability.
He is not yet in his 100% form so it is understandable that he was not chosen in the All-Star game. But Chicago Bulls will be represented in the All-Star by Jimmy Butler and Pau Gasol.
Had Rose played the way he did with the Bulls latest victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers from the start of the season, he could have made the All-Star outright the way he did in 2012. But that is not as important as the Bulls second half of the season. Whether Rose hits his fine form or not after the All-Star break remains to be seen because that would really spell the difference on how far the Bulls will go to the playoffs this time around.