The first three quarters were the opposite of what we wanted to see.
Despite facing a 2-5 Brooklyn Nets team that just saw their head coach kicked to the curb, the Bulls were the ones to look sluggish. Kevin Durant was getting just about anything he wanted while DeMar DeRozan clanked midrange jumper after midrange jumper. Nikola Vucevic supplied an active presence on the glass, but he was a borderline no-show on the offensive end. As for Zach LaVine, he had just 9 points to his name through the first three frames, which felt particularly icky against the 29th-ranked defense in the NBA.
On the other end of the floor, things felt even worse. The Bulls continued to miss rotations and leave shooters behind the 3-point line with no defender in sight. Brooklyn used some of these timely makes to maintain a comfortable lead – all with Kyrie Irving scoring just 4 points on a 2-12 performance.
Then … Zach LaVine woke up.
With the game on the line, LaVine looked like the max player he is. The two-time All-Star single-handedly went on to outscore the Nets 20-19 in the final 12 minutes. Yes, you read that right. He scored 8 of those points in a 1:05 span to give his team their largest lead of the game, officially lifting the Bulls toward a 31-19 4th quarter effort.
The late surge wouldn’t have been complete without the effort of Ayo Dosunmu and Alex Caruso, however. Both brought the intensity needed on the defensive end, forcing some clutch turnovers and snatching some key rebounds.
Now, I’m not ready to sit here and say this game answered any of my questions about this team. But I am reassured that they were able to stay locked in and do what they had to do to get the win. As much as the Nets have struggled this season, beating Kevin Durant is never an easy task. They deserve their props for doing just that.
Check out the full box score here.