Paul Sullivan: Play-in fever missing for Jerry Reinsdorf's Bulls, while his White Sox rely on a milkshake and a prayer

CHICAGO — It was a little over a month ago that Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan compared the team to an episode of “Dateline,” the news magazine that focuses on true crime mysteries.

In your typical “Dateline” episode, the big reveal comes at the end after plenty of twists and turns in the investigation. Ditto your typical Bulls’ win, where DeRozan rescues them in the final minutes after a cold start that seemed to spell doom.

“It’s a crazy thing, but it’s big because we kind of relish in those moments and take it to another level,” DeRozan said. “We try to continue to stress on not continuously putting ourselves in a tough position to dig ourselves out of a hole. It’s tough.”

The Bulls are 27-17 in clutch games — defined as the last five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the score was within five points — the highest win total in the NBA. DeRozan finished second in the league in clutch points with 182, just behind Golden State’s Steph Curry (189). The two stars figure to compete for the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year award.

And now this mysterious Bulls’ season has come down to a do-or-die game on Wednesday night at the United Center, where the Atlanta Hawks will try to put the dagger into them in the first play-in tournament game. If they win, the Bulls get a chance to do it again on Friday.

You can almost hear “Dateline” narrator Keith Morrison announcing the shocking twist that serves as a cliffhanger going into the final commercial break, before all the loose ends get tied up and the nightly news starts.

Can DeRozan do his Clutch Cargo impersonation one last time in what could be his final home game as a Bull? Will coach Billy Donovan give a “Do it for Thelma” speech for inspiration? Or will this be the end of the story for this year’s edition, a whodunit where every viewer knew what would happen before the first commercial break?

We’ll be right back with our answers.

While play-in fever hasn’t captured Chicago’s imagination, at least the Bulls will be playing past the end of the regular season, which none of our other four legacy teams have accomplished since the 2021 White Sox.

This might not be the Dark Ages of Chicago sports, but it’s about as bad as we’ve seen since 1978, arguably our worst sports year in history.

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