Heat @ Bulls Tonight on TNT at 8 p.m.!

By Sean Mackey

The plan to possibly tank and get the lottery pick back from Milwaukee has been thrown out the window. There's no chance of the Bulls having a worse record than the Clippers unless L.A. wins every single remaining game. The Bulls have 12 more games to go in the regular season. With all this being said, the quest for the playoffs begins today against the rival (according to D-Wade) Miami Heat. The Heat currently lead the season series 2-1.

The Bulls have won the last two games and Derrick Rose is playing his heart out but with Noah just coming in for sporadic minutes at a time and Deng possibly out for the rest of the season, the next 12 games are going to be tough. Chicago will be taking on Charlotte twice and Toronto once during these 12 games, these are obviously going to be the most important games to win since those teams are currently occupying the 7th and 8th seeds. Charlotte's going to make the playoffs for the first time without a doubt, they're playing REALLY solid basketball. Toronto is the team we're after. If the Bulls can finish 8th (or even possibly 7th) and Bosh is denied the playoffs, everyone can seriously start believing that he'll be signing elsewhere. Whether that team is Chicago, Miami or New York is something that will be speculated about until July 1st.

So tonight, put on your best Jason Caffey or Luc Longley jersey (what you don't have one?), skip the pussy NCAA tournament, and watch some real men compete for seeding that matters.