LaVine, Donovan address playoff matchup vs. Bucks originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
MINNEAPOLIS --- Bring on the Bucks.
The Chicago Bulls will face the defending NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks in their first playoff appearance since 2017. Game 1 is set for Sunday in Milwaukee with a start time to be determined.
In the four-game, regular-season series, the Bucks prevailed all four times by four, six, 28 and 21 points.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here.
“We get a lot of days to prepare,” Zach LaVine said. “Obviously, we’re going up against the defending champs. I think it’s a great opportunity. If we’re not going in confident or looking at it as 0-0 now . . . We have to come with our right mindset and get that dawg mentality.
“We’re a good team. We just have to start playing like it and bring that confidence to it. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
It will be exactly that. After leading the Eastern Conference as late as Feb. 25, the Bulls limped to the finish line with a 7-15 record and enter the playoffs with LaVine monitoring his balky left knee, Alex Caruso nursing a sore back and Lonzo Ball out.
The Bucks are confident to the point that they rested regulars in Sunday’s regular-season finale to drop to the No. 3 seed.
“They’re a very vet-savvy team. Obviously, they play with a bunch of confidence and physicality,” LaVine said. “They got Brook (Lopez) at the rim. Obviously, Giannis (Antetokounmpo) coming weakside and Jrue Holiday as well. They have a really good team and a complete team. I think we do as well. We just have to attack them and figure out ways to beat them.
“They’ve been a championship-caliber team for a couple years now. They’re experienced. We have to come in and try to shake it up a little bit. We have to try to bring the fight to them because if we’re back on our heels, it’s not going to be good.”
Coach Billy Donovan and his staff began preparations on the charter flight home from the Bulls’ victorious, regular-season finale on Sunday night. The Bulls will take Monday off save for individual workouts as the coaching staff starts delving into matchups and personnel to formulate a game plan.
“Teams like the Bucks that have won a world championship and made some deep playoff runs, it’s not like you can take one thing away and be successful. They do a lot of things exceptionally well. That’s the detail that I’m talking about,” Donovan said. “When it’s not going well---because they’re a great team---we have to be able to competitively fight and stay in it and move to the next play and be unified. There’s gotta be really good talk and communication.”
Donovan called the Bucks “arguably the best team in the league” and noted how they can employ a wide variety of lineups. Lopez missed the teams’ first two meetings as he recovered from back surgery, and the Bucks used small-ball lineups with Bobby Portis at center.
With Lopez back, the Bucks employ a large front line. Donovan said the pairing of Nikola Vucevic with Tristan Thompson is on the table as a potential rotational wrinkle.
“We have to maintain a high level of competitive fight. They’re champions for a reason. They’re battle tested. They’ve been through this. We will have to play very, very good basketball at both ends,” Donovan said. “We have to generate good shots. We have to play downhill and make good decisions when we get downhill because of their size.”
Donovan pointed to rebounding and transition defense as critical areas.
LaVine will be one of several Bulls experiencing playoff basketball for the first time. Patrick Williams, who took in a Bucks playoff game with Donovan as a spectator last year, will be another. And he’ll be matched against Antetokounmpo often.
“It’s more about us and how we play. We can’t worry about them,” Williams said. “We have to lock into our habits, making sure we’re connected offensively and defensively. We’ve shown when we’re connected, we’re pretty good. When we fight, we can play with any team.”
The Bulls will be prohibitive underdogs, although Williams said the team doesn’t view themselves as such.
Click here to follow the Bulls Talk Podcast.
