The Bulls are looking to finish the year strong. With eight games left in the 2021-22 regular season, Chicago looks to keep the good times rolling and knock off the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden.
Keep Nikola Vucevic involved
The Bulls featured the Montenegrin big man early and often against the Cavs and it paid off. With Vucevic attacking early, the Bulls finished the first quarter with a 28-16 lead.
Vucevic ended the game with a stat line of 16 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists, playing a big part in Zach LaVine's 25-point night. The more the Bulls keep Vooch involved on offense, the easier everyone's job becomes.
Watch for lobs on defense
The New York Knicks have a number of high-flying bigs on their roster. Youngster Jericho Sims and Mitchell Robinson are both capable of getting behind the defense from the dunker spot or on pick-and-roll actions for lobs at the rim.
If the Bulls want to prevent the easiest method of generating points for the Knicks, then they will need to be mindful of these lob plays for the athletic New York bigs.
Trust your veterans
While the Bulls obviously want to see big performances from their youngsters, now is the time they want to see DeMar DeRozan, LaVine and Vucevic round into postseason form.
That means in every one of the Bulls final eight games, we need to see the Bulls three scoring leaders play with peak efficiency and effort. The Knicks are a non-playoff team that would be happy to play spoiler, so it would behoove the Bulls to trust their leaders to pull them through.
LaVine, DeRozan and Vucevic all average well over 24 points per game (PPG) against the Knicks this season. If those three players get their usual, healthy dose of shot attempts on Monday, it's hard to envision the Bulls struggling in MSG.