The Bulls will play against the Hawks at the United Center on Wednesday night as part of the NBA's play-in tournament before the postseason action begins.
What's the NBA play-in tournament?
Here's everything you need to know about how the Bulls make the playoffs.
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Seeding
The seeding for the play-in tournament is the standard seeding procedure. The seeds are ranked by each team's record, with the best team earning the No. 1 seed and the 10th-best record earning the No. 10 seed.
The Bulls earned the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference picture for their 39-43 record. The Hawks earned the No. 10 seed after finishing the regular season with a 36-36 record, which is worse than the Bulls, but better than the 11th place Nets.
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Tournament
The top six seeds will earn automatic bids into their respective conference's playoffs. But seeds 7-10 will enter into the NBA's play-in tournament.
These games are meant to decide which two teams will be the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds in the playoffs. It gives the No. 9 and No. 10 seed a chance at making the playoffs, despite not finishing with one of the eight best regular season records.
In each conference, the No. 7 seed will play the No. 8 seeded team; the No. 9 seed will play the No. 10 seeded team. The No. 7 seed will host the No. 7/8 seed game; the No. 9 seed will host the No. 9/10 seed game.
The winner of the No. 7/8 seed game will automatically advance to the playoffs as the No. 7 seed. The loser of the No. 7/8 seed game will face the winner of the No. 9/10 seed game. The loser of the No. 9/10 seed game will not advance to the playoffs and will finish their season.
The winner of the game between the loser of the No. 7/8 seed game and the winner of the No. 9/10 seed game will advance to the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. The loser will not advance to the playoffs and will finish their season.
How do the Bulls make the playoffs?
On Wednesday night, the Bulls will host the Eastern Conference's No. 9/10 seed game against the Hawks. The Bulls must win to advance, or they will finish their season.
If the Bulls advance past the Hawks, they will play the loser of the No. 7/8 play-in game, which features the No. 7 seeded 76ers and the No. 8 seed Heat. The Bulls would not host that game. They would travel to either Philadelphia or Miami to compete in the final play-in game.
If the Bulls advance through both play-in games, they will earn the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Then, they would enter into a seven-game series against the No. 1 seeded Celtics.
Remember, play-in games are not considered playoff games. It's an extension of the regular season to determine the final two seeds of the Eastern and Western Conference playoffs.
Last season, the Bulls participated in the play-in tournament as the No. 10 seed. They defeated the No. 9 seeded Raptors in Toronto, but lost to the Heat in the final play-in game, giving Miami the No. 8 seed. The Heat eventually won the Eastern Conference Finals and qualified for the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Nuggets.
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