The 2021-22 regular season has commenced and playoff seeding has been decided.
The Chicago Bulls landed as the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference and will take on Giannis Antetokounmpo and the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.
Zach LaVine, who is making the playoffs for the first time in his career, spoke on Sunday about the matchup with the defending champs. “Obviously, we’re going up against the defending champs. I think it’s a great opportunity,” LaVine said. “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.”
During the regular season, the Bulls lost all four matchups against the Bucks by an average of 15 points per game.
“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,” LaVine said.
Billy Donovan shared his thoughts and the kind of attention to detail it takes to beat a team like Milwaukee. “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,” Donovan said. “They do a lot of things exceptionally well. That’s the detail that I’m talking about.”
The Bucks come in to the playoffs with a healthy squad while the Bulls remain without Lonzo Ball, who was ruled out for the season due to continued discomfort in his left knee after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus.
“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.
Game 1 of the first round series will tip-off on Sunday.
