At the end of their final multigame trip of the regular season, the Chicago Bulls are facing a potential road block in postseason success — their difficulty to win away games.
The Bulls have been dominant at the United Center this season, losing only 10 games in Chicago. But it has been a different story on the road. Despite a 44-32 overall record, the Bulls are 18-22 away from home.
No other team currently above the play-in cutoff line in the Eastern Conference has a losing road record. In the Western Conference, the Golden State Warriors are in third place despite going 19-19 on the road and the Utah Jazz are fifth with a 19-20 away record.
But for the Bulls, recency is the greatest concern. Nine of their 22 road losses came in the 17 games since the All-Star break. Over that stretch, the Bulls have been allowing 118.6 points per game while their scoring dropped to 106.2.
When the Bulls leave Chicago, guard Alex Caruso said the change in mentality is noticeable in the locker room.
“It’s just something about being on the road, we’ve got to lock in and get better,” Caruso said. “We have to have a different mindset. You’ve got to … be ready for things to not go your way and respond.”
Coach Billy Donovan partially attributes the recent road pattern to the learning curve of the team’s secondary rotation, which primarily features players under age 23: forward Patrick Williams and guards Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu. The group often has struggled the most under the pressure of opposing teams playing on their home court, notably allowing a big Bucks run from the first to second quarter in Milwaukee to open their recent five-game trip.
Developing this trio has been a focal point since the All-Star break. Donovan believes strengthening their mentality while traveling is no different.
“Young players learning how to play on the road is important,” Donovan said. “It’s about finding out how to be able to do that and trying to find some consistency on the road.”
The road inconsistency hasn’t been a deal-breaker for the Bulls. They weathered the last two weeks on the road, returning to Chicago with wins over against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards. They will leave the United Center only one more time for a potential critical season finale against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
But losing seven of their last nine road games drummed up frustration throughout the Bulls locker room. Veteran leaders such as Caruso and DeMar DeRozan noted the drop in the team’s intensity outside Chicago. Tuesday’s win over the Wizards in Washington marked one of the highest-intensity finishes from the Bulls in recent months, a galvanizing road performance for a team still struggling with its identity.
Even more important, winning on the road is essential in the postseason. As the Bulls still grapple with their recent tumble to the fifth spot in the East, they are preparing to enter the playoffs with a lower seed — and therefore a higher likelihood not to have home-court advantage in a first-round series.
“We got to have a chip on our shoulder when we go on the road and understand it’s us first,” DeRozan said. “We’ve got to accept that challenge and thrive in those moments and understand what’s at stake and find enjoyment when you go on the road.
“Our back is already against the wall.”
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