Chicago Bulls Face Heavy Slate Of Back-To-Backs, Difficult Close To 2022-23 Schedule

The Chicago Bulls faced a murderers’ row of opponents to close out the 2021-22 season, and it helped result in a big slump to go from 39-21 to 46-36. The Bulls must be feeling a bit of déjà vu after seeing the 2022-23 schedule, with a difficult close to the season and a heavy slate of back-to-backs highlighting the slate.

Chicago is tied with four other teams with the most back-to-backs in the NBA with 15. Four of those back-to-backs occur in the first 12 games of the season, which begins with a difficult game on the road against the Miami Heat on Oct. 19. The Bulls are also tied for second in the NBA in rest disadvantage games with 12 while only having eight rest advantage games, one of the lowest numbers in the NBA, per Positive Residual. While they’re just 18th in miles traveled even with a trip to Paris to play the Detroit Pistons on Jan. 23, these other factors make for a pretty tough schedule. Positive Residual has them with the most difficult strength of schedule among playoff teams from last season.

As for that brutal close to the season, Chicago’s final 14 games are mostly against expected playoff teams, starting with a home back-to-back against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Heat. The Bulls then have a home-and-home set against the Philadelphia 76ers (the Bulls have never defeated Joel Embiid in his NBA career) before traveling out to the West Coast for a game against the Portland Trail Blazers. Then comes a back-to-back against the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, followed by a home date against the Lakers. March closes with a road tilt against the Charlotte Hornets.

April starts with a home game against the Memphis Grizzlies and is then followed by a back-to-back against the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks. The season wraps up with a road tilt against the Dallas Mavericks and then a home game against the Detroit Pistons, making the last game theoretically the easiest of that final stretch.

While you never know what these teams will actually look like late in the season, the matchups on paper say it would behoove the Bulls to get off to another strong start to get a bit of cushion ahead of that home stretch. That makes Lonzo Ball’s health to begin the season even more important, though Chicago will still surely play things safe with his knee no matter what. Will he play in those back-to-backs to start the season? Will he play in back-to-backs at all throughout the season?

Regardless, let’s hope Ball is able to play in the Jan. 26 TNT game on the road in Charlotte. That’s because that game is part of the new NBA Rivals Week. While the Hornets aren’t exactly a Bulls rival, this game features Lonzo Ball vs. LaMelo Ball to give it some extra juice … assuming they both play.

Another notable TNT game occurs just a few weeks later when the Bulls host the Milwaukee Bucks on Feb. 16 right before the All-Star break. This will be the first time the Bulls play a regular-season home game on TNT since 2017, finally giving them a chance to extend their infamous streak of 20 straight wins in these games:

It will be a tall task to push that number to 21 wins in a row, but the Bulls have come up with some truly improbable wins throughout the streak.

In all, Chicago currently has 14 national TV games in 2022-23, with three on TNT, seven on ESPN and four on NBA TV. That’s about middle of the pack in the NBA.

It’s going to be a fascinating season for the Bulls as they try to build on 2021-22. Now at least they know what their schedule looks like.