The Bulls would love to have an X-factor entering Game 1 of the playoff series with Milwaukee.

Heck, at this point they would settle for a U, V, or W-factor.

Pick a letter.

Maybe, just maybe, the regular-season finale in Minnesota was a dress rehearsal for Patrick Williams to be just that.

It was in that game that the second-year forward scored a career-high 35 points, grabbed four rebounds with four assists, put up 21 shots, got to the free throw line 14 times, and went 3-for-4 from three-point range.

An offensive showcase only seen in Summer League for the No. 4 overall pick from the 2020 NBA Draft.

“Going forward, I think him having a game like this at the end of the year, not just showing himself but everyone on the team that he’s capable of being that type of player,” All-Star Zach LaVine said of Williams’ outing. “He is that guy.”

He’ll need to be.

The 35 points won’t be happening against the Bucks. Not with the Bulls at full strength. But being aggressive on the offensive end, especially with all the attention LaVine and DeMar DeRozan are going to get, will be key if the Bulls want to keep the defending NBA Champions off balance.

“They’ve been giving that message since last year,” Williams said, when asked about being aggressive on the offensive end. “It’s on me. I feel confident enough to do it. I’ve proven to myself not only [against the Timberwolves], but previous games, and even some last season that when I am aggressive, I am helping this team.”

Completely true. But it’s Williams’ defense that will be monumental.

Bulls coach Billy Donovan keeps starting lineups close to the vest. In the last meeting with Milwaukee, however, Donovan started Williams, DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, Alex Caruso and rookie Ayo Dosunmu, with LaVine getting a rest.

Dosunmu will likely be the odd-man out for Game 1 on Sunday, coming off the bench.

That means Williams draws the short straw of trying to defend a player who has become almost undefendable in Giannis Antetokounmpo. The same Antetokounmpo who has won 13 straight against the Bulls, while his Milwaukee team has won 16 of its last 17.

So what have previous Williams-Antetokounmpo showdowns looked like so far? That’s another problem – the sample size.

In just his sixth NBA game of his career last year, Williams got his first taste of the “Greek Freak” experience in a 30-point Bulls loss on New Year’s Day. Antetokounmpo had 29 points and 12 rebounds that day, as well as finishing with a ridiculous plus-31 in the plus/minus. Williams had eight points, and offered very little resistance to the Milwaukee standout.

That was the only time Antetokounmpo played against the Bulls last season.

This season, Williams missed the first two games with the Bucks, recovering from wrist surgery, and then came off the bench in the third game for minimal action. The closest the two had a chance to go at it recently was the April 5 meeting at the United Center, in which the Bulls were blown out 127-106.

Antetokounmpo only had 18, but also only played 24 minutes, with Milwaukee seemingly turning the game into a scrimmage, working on different looks both offensively and defensively.

Williams also had 18, but was a zero in plus/minus, while Antetokounmpo was a plus-12.

Williams’ attitude about the upcoming playoff showdown? Throw all the numbers, final scores and trends out the window.

“I think it’s more about us and how we play,” Williams said. “We can’t really worry about them. I think it’s more making sure we’re connected offensively and defensively. We’ve shown when we are connected on both ends of the floor and all the guys are connected, we’re pretty good.

“We’re going to be physical, we’re going to fight. I think we can play with anybody, any team. Let’s play.”

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PITTSBURGH — The first fastball Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks threw floated up over the middle of the plate. No harm. Pirates leadoff man Daniel Vogelbach watched it for a strike. But it was a sign of things to come.

Hendricks had gotten away from establishing his fastball low in the strike zone last season, the worst of his career. And Hendricks’ start Wednesday was reminiscent of his 2021 struggles. In the Cubs’ 6-2 loss, Hendricks allowed six runs before leaving the game with two outs in the fourth inning. Reflecting his control issues, Hendricks walked four batters.

The data on Hendricks’ secondary pitches has been better so far this year. He’s added vertical movement to his curveball. Catcher Willson Contreras called Hendricks’ changeup “completely different” from last season. But those improvements only give him an advantage — resulting in performances like Hendricks’ 5 1/3 innings one one-run ball on Opening Day — when he’s establishing his fastball down.

If the Cubs’ rotation is going to sustain the kind of success it had the first time through — each starter threw at least five innings and allowed one run or fewer — the aggressive approach the team has been emphasizing has to start with Hendricks.

That’s why he was so bullish in the spring, regardless of results, about executing his fastball down and away.

On Wednesday, Hendricks seemed to be fighting for the feel for that pitch all outing. And when Hendricks’ fastball isn’t effective, the rest of his pitches lose their impact. Pirates five-hole hitter Ben Gamel could sit on Hendricks’ changeup when he came up in the first inning with two runners on and two outs.

Gamel watched a curveball for a strike. On the second pitch of the at-bat, he golfed a changeup into the right field stands. The Pirates took a 3-1 lead on Gamel’s home run, and they never trailed again.

The next time Gamel stepped up to the plate, Hendricks threw him all fastballs. Gamel walked in five pitches.

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Ald. Nick Sposato (38th) on Wednesday blamed “commie, lefty loons” for accusing him of violating the city’s ethics ordinance by posting a picture of himself on Facebook dressed in firefighter’s gear in front of a city fire engine.

Sposato is one of three former Chicago firefighters currently serving in the City Council. He said the photo was taken while he was still an active firefighter and has been posted on his Facebook page since 2014 and featured in his campaign materials since his first election in 2015.

“That was like my main photo of me. I don’t see anything wrong with it. I can’t have a picture of me in front of my fire truck? It makes zero sense to me. Once a firefighter, always a firefighter. It’s almost like, once a Marine, always a Marine,” Sposato said.

Earlier this week, the Chicago Board of Ethics found probable cause to believe that Sposato’s use of the photo taken on city property wearing a city-issued gear violated that portion of the city’s ethics ordinance governing the use of social media by alderpersons and citywide elected officials.

Those 2019 rules require city officials to separate their political and personal accounts and promotional materials from materials and social media accounts used to promote city actions.

The goal is to clearly distinguish and separate “non-city business” from actions and activities “sponsored or endorsed by the city.”

If Sposato is found guilty of the violation, it could trigger fines of up to $5,000 for each violation.

But, the alderperson is hoping it doesn’t come to that. If he’s told the photo is a violation of the city’s ethics ordinance, he’ll take it down even though he strongly disagrees.

“If they say there’s something wrong with it, then alright. I’m not gonna fight ’em on it. I’ll just take it down.”

Sposato said the photo has been “up since at least 2014.” Why is it becoming an issue now?

“There’s this group of commie, lefty loons that are against [Jim] Gardiner, [Anthony] Napolitano and me. Everything we do, they file complaints against us fairly regularly,” Sposato said of his fellow former firefighters in the Council.

“Now, they’re complaining about a picture on my page, and it’s actually a page I haven’t even used in six weeks because, when I post on my open pages, it gives these goofs a chance to say stuff. So the last six weeks, I’ve only been posting on my personal page.”

Sposato said he does not believe the “violation” is serious enough to warrant a fine.

“The bottom line is, if they say, ‘Hey, you can’t do that. You need to take it down,’ I’ll take it down plain and simple. I’m not gonna argue or fight about it. I’ll just say, ‘What can I do? Is there something there that needs to be blacked out? Is the fact that the truck says Chicago Fire Department an issue? Is it wearing my fire coat?’ It’s an old picture I used for campaign stuff. It’s a little baffling to me.”

Last week, Sposato blamed a monuments commission “stacked” with, as he put it, “27 lefties and only three righties,” including himself, for recommending that three statutes of Christopher Columbus be permanently sidelined and that the Balbo Monument in Burnham Park be removed.

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STAMFORD, Conn. — Peacock’s Sunday morning Major League Baseball package will be called “MLB Sunday Leadoff,” NBC Sports said Wednesday.

Peacock will stream games produced by NBC Sports for 18 straight weeks beginning on May 8. The first six games will begin at 10:30 a.m. Chicago time with the remaining ones beginning at 11 a.m.

The first game between the White Sox and Boston Red Sox on May 8 will also air on NBC.

On each of the Sundays a game is on Peacock, it will be the exclusive home of live MLB action until 12:30 p.m., when the remainder of the day’s schedule will begin.

Peacock will also air the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, which features the top minor-league prospects. The game will be played during All-Star Week festivities at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in July.

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Brooks Bahr’s weight and recruiting stock both had a significant jump during the offseason.

Bahr was a disruptive force at defensive end for Loyola last fall as a 6-foot-6, 245-pound junior.

Ramblers coach John Holecek recalls a day in January when Bahr walked into the weight room and a coach asked what he weighed. Bahr guessed 250-255.

“He stepped on the scale: 269,” Holecek said.

Now Bahr is at 280, and he’s heading to the defending Big Ten champions after committing to Michigan last month.

“Putting on 30 pounds of solid muscle, he still looks lean and has giant hands,” Holecek said of the state’s consensus No. 10 player in the class of 2023.

Bahr isn’t so sure his weight gain piqued the interest of college coaches as much as his other attributes: height, wingspan and those big hands.

Still, he said, “Since the end of last season, a goal of mine was to put on good weight, getting stronger and getting faster.”

One of Bahr’s training partners is a pretty familiar one: his older brother Chase, an offensive lineman at Penn.

The weight work is part of the effort Bahr has put in while chasing his college dreams. After getting his name out at showcases, he picked up his first offer from Illinois in September,

His dozen Power Five offers also include Northwestern, Wisconsin, Iowa and Vanderbilt.

The Wolverines’ offer stood out not just on the athletic side.

“I want to study sports marketing and sports management, and Michigan has the No. 1 sports management program in the country,” Bahr said.

Then there’s the atmosphere.

“I was really looking for a college town like Ann Arbor and playing in the Big House with 115,000 fans watching is going to be incredible.”

Covey picks ‘Cats

The biggest question for Prospect’s Frank Covey IV heading into the recruiting process was where he’d play.

The 6-2, 185-pounder is listed as an athlete on the recruiting sites after starring at receiver as a sophomore and quarterback last season. He’s the No. 13 prospect in the state in the 247.com composite rankings.

Covey drew recruiting interest at both positions, getting looks from Illinois and Nebraska as a receiver and from several Mid-American Conference schools at QB.

But, he said, one position felt like a better long-term option: “I knew I was going to play receiver in college.”

A Northwestern assistant checked in with Covey last fall. “He said, ‘You play hard; we’ll keep in touch.”

Covey didn’t think put a lot of weight on it at the time. But then other NU coaches saw his film and liked it. Still, his future position was up in the air.

Until the boss checked in.

“Coach Fitz [Pat Fitzgerald] saw me as a receiver,” Covey said.

That, plus a look at the Wildcats’ facilities — “it just blew me away” — was all he needed to make up his mind.

“I’m more confident in my receiving skills,” said Covey, who committed to Northwestern in February.

Victory lap for Leonard

Ken Leonard, the state’s all-time winningest football coach, is retiring after the 2022 season.

Leonard is 404-83 in 42 seasons, four at Gridley and the past 38 at Sacred Heart-Griffin. He has won five state titles and finished second four times with the Cyclones.

The coach-in-waiting is John Allison, the current offensive coordinator who joined Leonard’s staff in 2003.

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The Chicago Bears off-season hasn’t been one fans had hoped for so far with the team having needs in key areas on both offense and defense.

It’s clear that the theme of this off-season are fliers and one-year deals for General Manager Ryan Pace, but who can blame him with what he inherited.

That did not change when the Bears signed ex-Ravens CB Tavon Young to a one-year deal and there is hope that he can be a solution at the nickel position.

Chicago’s secondary was depleted going into this offseason and despite having. Eddie Jackson and Jaylon Johnson, they needed to find at least two defensive backs and a safety. Adding Young to the room was necessary and when healthy, he can ball out.

Young spent his first six NFL seasons in Baltimore, making a strong impact when on the field. In the 50 games he has played, Young recorded 127 tackles, four sacks, four interceptions, three fumble recoveries, two touchdowns, and 16 passes defended.

The nickel corner has flashed his talent before, making aggressive plays on the ball and being good in run support. It’s a low-risk, high-reward signing due to his history.

Injuries have always slowed him down, however as he missed the entire 2017 season with an ACL injury as well as the entire 2019 season. Moreover, he missed 14 games in 2020 due to various injuries.

With Matt Eberflus’ new defensive system, Young will most likely fill the slot corner position. He has exceled in that position before and the hope is he can do it again while staying healthy. The former fourth-round pick back in 2016 has a chance to turn his career around with the Bears. At 28, Chicago is taking a flier on a quality corner who still has plenty left to offer.

Make sure to check out our Bears forum for the latest on the team.

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