Bulls Have Their Biggest Game Of Season Tonight

Although it seems like this Bulls season has been going on for about 11 years thanks to all the ups and downs, the injuries, the horrible coaching decisions, and the John Paxson "Is He or Isn't He Resigning" drama, the season is actually only about four months old. It's just the Bulls have a knack for making every game feel like the last hour of work on a Friday as you await the weekend.

Well, over the last four months and 62 games the Bulls haven't played any that were more important than the game they're scheduled to play tonight.  With their win over the Warriors on Wednesday night the Bulls moved into a tie with the Milwaukee Bucks for the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.  The same Bucks who come to the United Center tonight along with former Bulls head coach Scott Skiles.

Tonight they fight for the right to be swept out of the first round of the playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers (or Boston Celtics).

While there are probably plenty of Bulls fans out there who would rather the team didn't make the playoffs so they could possibly sneak up into the top three of the NBA's draft lottery, the truth is, the team would probably be better off getting to the postseason.  They won't get anywhere, of course, but at least it will give Derrick Rose an idea of what playoff basketball is like in the NBA.

So its important that the Bulls come out and play well against Milwaukee tonight and take the final spot in the playoffs away from them. Of course, these are the Bulls.  The same Bulls who were blown out by a horrible Washington Wizards team last week, and were then blown out by the lowly Charlotte Bobcats earlier this week as well.

In both games the Bulls looked as if they would rather be anywhere in the world than on a basketball court, which they can't afford to do tonight. If they do, they'll probably end up with all the free time they ever dreamed of in a few weeks.

Along with writing for NBCCHICAGO.com, Tom Fornelli can also be found contributing at FanHouse, SPORTSbyBROOKS, and his own Chicago sports blog Foul Balls.