All right, so Wednesday night’s comeback win over the Milwaukee Bucks was not as insane as Luka Dončić and the Dallas Mavericks once in a lifetime victory against the New York Knicks earlier this week, but the Chicago Bulls still had one of the most improbable wins in the last 20 years.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Bulls becomes just the sixth team to win after trailing by 11 or more points in the final 2:30 of the game in the last 20 seasons. The record for teams prior to Chicago’s 119-113 overtime victory against Milwaukee was 5-12,535 in the past two decades.
So yeah, still kind of crazy. Really crazy.
The Bulls were losing by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter Wednesday night, going down 94-79 with 8:08 left in the game following a three-pointer from Jevon Carter. Grayson Allen’s three with 3:19 remaining gave the Bucks a 104-93 lead, but from that point forward Chicago outscored Milwaukee 13-2 to send the game into overtime.
Nikola Vucevic began the improbable comeback with a pair of free throws and two more from Zach LaVine made it a 106-100 game with 1:33 left. Allen proceeded to miss two three-point attempts in the next Bucks’ possession that was kept alive with a Bobby Portis offensive rebound. A few buckets later, Milwaukee was trying to hold on for dear life when DeMar DeRozan picked off an inbounds pass from Giannis Antetokounmpo and fed Ayo Dosunmu, who streaked to the hoop for a game-tying dunk.
After that the Bucks were cooked, as Giannis traveled in Milwaukee’s final possession and then DeRozan scored 10 of the Bulls 13 points in overtime to clinch the win.
It was another incredible effort from DeRozan and the victory also continued another positive trend for the Bulls, who have now won four of their last five games, improving to 15-19 overall this season.
Although the season has been shaky to start, the Bulls have shown the ability to play up to their competition. That was a huge criticism of this team last season, especially after Lonzo Ball suffered his season-ending knee injury. The Bulls just couldn’t beat the good teams, but so far they have been getting it done against some of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.
With the 119-113 win over the Bucks, the Bulls are now 7-1 this season against them, the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets and Miami Heat, four of the top six teams in the East. The lone loss against that group came on Nov. 4, when the Celtics beat the Bulls 123-119 in Boston.
So, you do have to love that trend of playing better against better teams, but I guess that’s also the frustrating part for Bulls fans because this team is also 4-8 against teams with records below .500. This Bulls teams just hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt of simply flipping the switch, considering how last season ended and the inconsistencies we’ve seen so far this year.
But I do think this is encouraging and you know what, if DeRozan keeps on being amazing, he could will the Bulls by himself back into relevancy. I might not be as high on DeRozan as other Bulls fans are, but right now there’s no doubt how much of an impact he’s made with the Bulls.
We’ll see if playing up to their opponents continues, as the Bulls face the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday and Monday, followed by another matchup against the Nets next Wednesday and a trip on Friday to play against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Bulls are 0-1 against the Cavaliers and 76ers this season.
