The Chicago Bulls will face the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday in the NBA play-in tournament.
The Raptors lost to the Boston Celtics on Friday to settle for the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference, setting up the showdown with the Bulls in Toronto.
He Bulls secured their play-in position earlier this week, with losses to the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks keeping them from moving above the 10th seed.
If the Bulls win on Wednesday, they would have a road game on Friday against the loser of the play-in game between the No. 7 seed Miami Heat and the No. 8 Atlanta Hawks.
Winning both would give the Bulls the #8 seed in the East, and they would face the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the NBA playoffs. As the No. 6 seed last season, the Bulls lost to the third-seeded Bucks in five games in the best-of-seven series.
The Bulls went 1-2 against the Raptors this season, winning he meeting on november 7. the raptors won the last matchup 104-98 on February 28 after the Bulls collapsed in the fourth quarter, allowing an eight-point turnaround down the stretch.
The play-in game will be a homecoming for Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan, who spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Raptors. DeRozan has jumped at any opportunity to return to Toronto for a game.
When raised with the prospect of playing the Raptors, DeRozan expressed his excitement.
“Beautiful,” DeRozan said. “I think it would be fun. It will be very exciting. It would be really cool.
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