Bulls' Most Pivotal Matchups After 2022 NBA All-Star Break

Despite momentarily wobbling without Lonzo Ball or Alex Caruso, the Chicago Bulls made it to the NBA All-Star break with a .644 winning percentage that's tied for the Eastern Conference's best.

After spending much of the early campaign raising the ceiling, Chicago has since officially moved the goalposts. What might have qualified as a successful season back in December no longer cuts it.

Assuming Ball and Caruso return to full strength, the Bulls have the star power and depth to turn this season into something special. Maybe really special.

But there's a stretch run to tackle first. Given the lack of separation atop the East—the Bulls are both tied for the top seed and only 2.5 games up on the fifth-seeded Milwaukee Bucks—every remaining contest feels critical. The following three just happen to carry some extra importance.

Chicago and Miami posted identical records over the first half, so they might remain neck-and-neck the rest of the way.

The clubs will have two chances to directly damage the other's hopes of snagging the top seed. This is the first of those matchups (the other is a home game for the Bulls on April 2), but it could prove the most challenging.

For starters, this kicks off an all-caps BRUTAL stretch on the schedule. The Bulls, who have the second-hardest remaining schedule, per Tankathon, will wind up playing 12 out of 15 games on the road, and this is the first stop on their travels. Getting a win—and a chance to even up a season series that favors Miami by a 2-0 count—could give the Bulls the fuel they need to survive that trek.

Plus, the hope is that some or all of Ball, Caruso and Patrick Williams will be back in action by that April game, but this is too soon to see any of them.

Holding off the Heat won't be easy, but that's far from the only competition facing Chicago. The Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers are all just 2.5 games back of the Bulls, and even the seventh-seeded Toronto Raptors—who would be a play-in tournament team if the campaign closed today—are within five games of Chicago.

Tiebreakers could wind up playing a role in this race. Since head-to-head and division performances are the first factors used to break up those ties, it's tough to overstate the importance of Chicago's three remaining matchups with Central Division rival Milwaukee.

All three will count the same in the standings, but this might be the biggest boost to the Bulls' chances if they can pull it off. This game—the only of the three not held in Chicago—will kick off the Bulls' longest remaining road trip, a five-game trek that will only span seven days. Plus, Chicago plays the previous night at home against Toronto. The circumstances alone are tough, and that's before accounting for the defending champs' talent level.

The Bucks grabbed an early 1-0 series lead on the Bulls in late January, but that game shouldn't give Chicago's coaching staff too much pause beyond the final result (a 94-90 Bucks win). The Bulls didn't have LaVine for that contest, and the Bucks really didn't have an answer for DeMar DeRozan (35 points on 18 field-goal attempts) or Nikola Vucevic (19 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks).

The Cavaliers aren't a fun team to play. They're big, physical and relentless on defense, and even if opponents manage to match those three elements, they still have to deal with ignitable All-Star guard Darius Garland.

It's no picnic, as the Bulls learned the first time they met. Granted, the game was back in early December and didn't feature DeRozan, but it was still two-way domination in every sense. Cleveland's offense erupted for 115 points, with all five starters scoring at least nine points and shooting better than 55 percent from the field. The defense, meanwhile, was limited to 92 points on 41.7/26.9/71.4 shooting.

Chicago wound up winning the second matchup 117-104 on its home floor, setting the stage for what could be an epic two-game collision the rest of the way. The Cavaliers and Bulls lock horns in Chicago on March 12, but the latter's visit to Cleveland two weeks later looks like the true test.

It's a division game, and it's away from home as the middle stop on the aforementioned five-game road trip. It's also against a team with the super-sized frontcourt that can potentially pick holes in Chicago's interior defense.