Don’t look now, but the Chicago Bulls may be back. They’ve now won five of their last six since the Timberwolves’ debacle and have looked every bit of a playoff team. “Cranking the defense up,” as DeMar DeRozan put it post-game, and finding consistency offensively have driven Chicago to three straight road wins followed by two out of three at home. Alex Caruso also returned tonight from concussion protocol and fit right in stride with the new-look Bulls, but the night belonged to Zach Lavine, who bullied Detroit for a season-best 43 points.
Finding Their Stride
Except for the Rockets’ defeat, where Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. combined for 60, the Bulls have looked like a completely new team from the first 29 games of the season. Sitting at 11-18 with a three-game road trip up next, coming off of a franchise-record 150 points surrendered to Minnesota, all signs were pointed toward a ‘sell’ at the deadline and tanking second-half of the season. Trade rumors, disgruntled members of the team, and ‘finger-pointing’ were all hot off the press after that disaster.
“It’s frustrating for all of us. I know it’s frustrating for the fans. It’s embarrassing.”
Zach Lavine via @DarnellMayberry
Pulling off wins in Miami, Atlanta, and New York, the Bulls were shockingly back on track. One came via a buzzer-beater courtesy of second-year guard Ayo Dosunmu, another from a DeRozan shot to beat the horn; excitement was buzzing around the Windy City again. Their first game at home in ten days, the United Center witnessed their first loss when leading at the half, previously 8-0 in those games. Milwaukee came to town after three-straight losses, and it felt like a playoff game. Forty pieces from Giannis and DeRozan in a back-and-forth battle, the Bulls became just the sixth out of over 12,500 teams to come back and win while down 11 or more with under 180 seconds to play. ‘MVP’ chants rained down as DeRozan buried the Bucks in the closing seconds of OT; Chicago is back in business.
“That’s The Zach We All Know”
DeMar DeRozan put it best following Zach’s second 40-point outing in his last 13 appearances, “that’s the Zach we all know.” Having signed a max contract this past offseason, Lavine has felt his seat increasingly warm up over the past month of lackluster play. Averaging his lowest points, assists, rebounds, and shooting percentages since being traded to Chicago, the critiques are pretty warranted. The media has had a field day creating trade scenarios and inflating the ‘locker room blowup’ in Minnesota. Still, Lavine has responded precisely how a star should, with better play on the court. The old saying “winning cures all” is certainly coming to fruition for the Bulls, who haven’t let a lick of the media’s antics affect their play.
The former UCLA shooting guard is now averaging 25 points over his last ten, including shooting a blistering 43% from deep and nearly 54% from the field. Chicago is now only three games away from breaking the .500 mark and only two and a half games out from the six-seed in the Eastern Conference, meaning they’d be free of a play-in game. They’ve got four tough conference foes up next, Cleveland twice, followed by Brooklyn and Philadelphia. Now that the Bulls have proved to be out of this slump amongst the bottom-dwellers of the NBA, the new challenge is seeing if they can compete with the best. Carrying a record of 8-1 this season against the Bucks, Nets, and Celtics, the track record has been there.
New Year, New Team
Now that Lavine has found his stride, DeRozan is playing at an MVP level, Vucevic is finding his all-star-level pedigree, and Caruso and Javonte Green are being re-inserted into the lineup, look out for the 2023 Chicago Bulls. Do they become buyers at the deadline now that they’ve shaken the rumors that they might sell and tank?
