(670 The Score) On the final day of the regular season, the Bulls on Sunday landed arguably their most nightmarish first-round matchup.
Chicago will face the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks in the best-of-seven opening round of the NBA playoffs. Game 1 will be Sunday at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, with the time to be announced later.
The sixth-seeded Bulls drew the Bucks after Milwaukee dropped to the third seed by virtue of a loss to Cleveland and Boston's win against Memphis. The Bucks and Celtics both finished 51-31, but Boston held the tiebreaker by virtue of a better record against Eastern Conference playoff teams. The Bucks rested their starters against the Cavaliers on Sunday, paving the way for them to fall one spot in the standings.
The Bulls were going to be underdogs regardless of who they played in the first round, but the Bucks might just be their toughest matchup. Milwaukee swept Chicago in their four-game series in the regular season, winning by an average of 14.8 points per game. The Bulls have lost 16 of their past 17 games against the Bucks, with their only win in that span coming when the Bucks rested star Giannis Antetokounmpo and other starters rested in the regular-season finale.
When Antetokounmpo plays, the Bulls haven't beaten the Bucks since Dec. 26, 2017.
"World champions, had obviously a great regular season, MVP, just a great team," Bulls coach Donovan said of the matchup against the Bucks after Chicago closed its regular season with a 124-120 win at Minnesota on Sunday night. "We got some time to get prepared, kind of evaluate the games we played against them this season and just get prepared going against arguably the best team in the league.
"They're champions for a reason. They're battle-tested. They've been through this. We will have to very, very good basketball on both ends of the floor."
The NBA play-in tournament will take place this Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. The playoffs then begin next weekend. The Bulls have reached the postseason for the first time since 2017.
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.
