The Bulls’ NBA season is on the rise lately, capped off by a December where they went 9-2. However, they weren’t able to play all of their games in the past month because of a COVID-19 outbreak. I’m proud of this Bulls team so far as we approach the halfway point of the season because last season was tremendously different. Most of the team is completely different, in a good way, and it’s a great thing to have Chicago sports back. 

In the middle of December, two of their games were postponed because 10 players had COVID. Since almost the whole team was out at the same time, they had to sign multiple players just to try to compete. Another game later in the week was postponed because of COVID-19 concerns with the opposing team. 

The Bulls are slowly getting back to full strength, meaning that they have almost all of their players back. Now, every player on the team has already had COVID, and there should be fewer concerns for the rest of the season. Games in the NBA are normally every two days, so having to miss 10 days can be a big challenge for players.

Their two star players at the moment, Zach Lavine and Demar DeRozan, continued to have incredible games heading into the new year, even after coming out of quarantine. This included two back-to-back games by Demar DeRozan where he hit a buzzer-beater for the win. Those big wins are what brought the Bulls into a commanding lead in the Eastern Conference at the new year. 

Most of the postponed games in December were finally rescheduled to January. That meant a very packed end of the month, including multiple stretches with a game a day. The Bulls had a lot of momentum and I believe that, as the best team in the east, they managed this hard stretch. All of the off-season signings have made this team just as good offensively as it is defensively.

The next couple of months are crucial before the playoffs start. Currently they are first in the Eastern Conference, with Miami, Cleveland, and Milwaukee within a game or two of displacing them. They have shown that they can compete against the best teams in the east, so I’m confident, as a fan of this team, that they can close out the regular season with lots of wins and succeed in the playoffs.