Can the Bulls Win 50 Games?

In today's Chicago Tribune, there is a short article titled "Bulls' 50-win goal seems like a stretch".

Here is an excerpt from that article:

Players are giving more voice to a quietly formed goal of 50 victories, even as it appears to be slipping away.

The Bulls must go 21-7 over their final games—14 at home, 14 on the road—to meet this goal, which seemed a foregone conclusion in the giddiness after signing Ben Wallace. The way the Bulls limped into the break, with five losses in six games, suggests the task will be tall.

Poor decision-making on offense, a recent lack of focus and intensity on defense and an injury to Andres Nocioni, whose participation Monday is questionable, has left more reasons for pessimism than optimism recently.

Still, hope exists.

"This is the time of year where we've started playing really well the last two years," coach Scott Skiles said. "We're close in a lot of games to playing really well. We've had our inconsistencies. We need to come out of the gate and play well after the break and try to build some momentum."

Indeed, the Bulls have closed the last two seasons by going 21-12 after the break in 2004-05 and 18-12 last season. But improvement is needed, especially in terms of consistency. Indeed, the Bulls seem to have one prolonged stretch of inconsistency and bad play each game, from which they don't recover.

K.C. Johnson, the author of the article, said that the Bulls must improve on bench play, the transition game, and energy levels.

I have listed the Bulls remaining games. The Tribune article said the Bulls must go 21-7 to reach 50 wins (they are currently 29-25). I am going to predict the outcome of each game and see what are the Bulls chances of winning 50 games.

Feb 20 vs Atlanta- W (30)
Feb 22 at Cleveland- L
Feb 23 vs Washington- W (31)
Feb 25 at Detroit- L
Feb 26 vs Orlando- W (32)
Feb 28 vs Golden State- W (33)
Mar 2 vs New Orl/OKC- W (34)
Mar 4 at Milwaukee- W (35)
Mar 7 at Miami- L
Mar 8 at Orlando- W (36)
Mar 11 at Boston- W (37)
Mar 13 vs Boston- W (38)
Mar 14 at Philadelphia- W (39)
Mar 17 at Memphis- W (40)
Mar 20 vs LA Clippers- W (41)
Mar 22 vs Denver- L
Mar 25 at Indiana- W (42)
Mar 26 vs Portland- W (43)
Mar 29 vs Detroit- W (44)
Mar 31 vs Cleveland- W (45)
Apr 1 at Atlanta- W (46)
Apr 4 at Detroit- L
Apr 6 vs New Jersey- W (47)
Apr 8 at Toronto- L
Apr 10 vs New York- W (48)
Apr 13 vs Charlotte- W (49)
Apr 15 at Washington- L
Apr 18 at New Jersey- W (50)

Surprisingly, I have the Bulls winning 50 games and finishing at a record of 50-32. The games I think the Bulls will win are games the Bulls will probably be the favorite to win. There is a good chance the Bulls will lose some of the games I have marked down as wins, but they could also win some of the games I have marked down as losses. I am not an NBA expert, so I can not guarantee that the Bulls will win 50 games. You are just going to have to watch the remaining games and find out.