So there were our Bulls yet again, seemingly tied to the tracks of basketball defeat and potential humiliation after losing a 16-point lead Monday and still tied with less than a minute left in the game with this time the dastardly mustachioed villain — and I personally reject that tired fictional stereotype — being the pubescent Portland Trailblazers.
Yes, another Bulls cliffhanger with those post season hopes facing being run over.
But once again it was a happy ending with the Bulls do-right hero, DeMar DeRozan, with a three-point play after Portland took a 105-102 lead with just over two minutes remaining, and then the closing free throws to finish off his game-high 28 points after he undressed a Portland switch and got an inside pass to Nikola Vučević for a running baseline hook shot with 9.3 seconds left for a 108-105 Bulls lead.
Alex Caruso then intentionally fouled Portland high scorer Anfernee Simons, who had 30 points and 12 in the fourth quarter comeback. Simons made both free throws.
And then Caruso made another of his AI plays — not Allen Iverson, but Artificial Intelligence as this guy is like a super computer defensively — with a block on Simons with 2.4 seconds left. Simons did get a chance to tie at the buzzer, but his long three rimmed out.
The Bulls got within a game of the elusive .500 at 34-35 with a chance to get back for the first time since Oct. 30 when they play in Houston Thursday. The Bulls, who are 29-21 since the end of November, have not been over .500 this season. They remain ninth in the Eastern Conference, three and a half games behind eighth place Miami and four behind seventh place Indiana with a home game against the Pacers March 27.
It may not always be the best basketball, but it may be the most exciting.
To be continued.
“We have that collective belief that at the end of the game we’re going to find a way to make a play whether it’s a rebound or a shot or pass free throw, whatever it is,” said Caruso, who came back from a sprained ankle (he was questionable pregame with a toe issue) early in the game to add three more steals and a block. “We’ve learned how to come back from down 20. We have some room to learn how to play when we’re up 15, 20 with a lead, which is probably harder than playing down 20. It’s human nature to take your foot off the gas and relax a little bit, so for us keeping everybody focused and knowing how much time we have in games.”
Nah, it’s more fun this way, even if it may be a bit stressful.
And it was again with the Bulls controlling much of the game after taking their first double-digit lead in the second quarter.
The Bulls have an advantageous stretch which does the NBA’s reputation little good with a series of upcoming games against several teams like the 19-49 ‘Blazers, who mostly have to try to persuade the NBA they aren’t playing to lose so they won’t be fined. They were without a bunch of veteran guys, like Jerami Grant and Malcolm Brogdon. Pull the rip cord, city. They’re bailing on this season.
Of course, the Bulls also were without their share with Coby White still out with a hip injury joining, of course, Zach LaVine and Patrick Williams, and rookie Julian Phillips injured also. But the Bulls got another excellent game from Ayo Dosunmu with 23 points and 10 assists playing point guard for White, and 22 points and nine rebounds from Vučević. Andre Drummond getting some late tag team time with Vučević had nine points and 11 rebounds, and a late accidental smack in the mouth that Bulls coach Billy Donovan said would require some dental work.
Though the smacking in the mouth much of the game was by the Bulls.
Dosunmu with his first career back-to-back games of at least 20 points got the Bulls going with a pair of second quarter threes supporting an efficient 4-of-4 DeRozan for a 54-49 halftime lead after the Bulls had gotten loose by 10 points earlier in the quarter. Then getting in step with a fast breaking, transition third quarter Dosunmu express with his four breakout layups, the Bulls sped ahead by 16 points and led 89-75 going into the fourth quarter on an Onuralp Bitim three.
The Bulls still had a 15-point lead early in the fourth quarter on a Dalen Terry three. Portland was cruising along at 3-of-17 on threes through three quarters when their Snidely Whiplash, Simons, actually got hot from three, and what the hey, tie game with 4:31 left, Bulls trailing by three with 2:35.
What the heck is going on here!
Calling Mr. DeRozan, calling Mr. DeRozan.
“I just really, really, really try to take good care of myself,” DeRozan was explaining about another 40-plus minutes as the league’s minutes played leader going on 35 years old this summer.
Enough with this LeBron age stuff; heck no one asks him to win every game down the stretch like DeMar mostly has to. And LeBron takes rest days; there’s no rest for a never much weary DeRozan
“The best way I can, I try to rest,” Ponce DeRozan was explaining afterward about his virtual fountain of youth game. “I don’t have other hobbies that cause me to exert any energy. So I try to take care of myself the best I can. And I just love hoopin’. I love playing the game no matter how many minutes it is. I just love being out there.”
Good thing for the Bulls if not so much for their opponents with so many memorable moments this season, if not only last week in Indianapolis the most monumental.
Talk about a guy who records knockouts.
"You know what's crazy is I learned a technique years ago when it comes to swimming and boxing to be able to stay focused no matter how tired you get," the 6-foot-6 DeRozan explained. "Never panic when you're in the water. And never openly let yourself feel fatigue when you're boxing. That's two training methods outside of basketball that I take seriously every summer. I've been doing that for years. So a lot of times, late game moments is where I'm able to control a lot of my exertion. I know how to channel it somewhere else and I think clearly."
Which enabled DeRozan to pull off that vital drive for the three-point play after the Bulls fell behind and the Trail Blazers forgot to help at the basket. Then there was that quick thinking pass to Vučević when Deandre Ayton stepped out to defend DeRozan, leaving guard Dalano Banton (I know, huh?) on Vučević.
DeRozan even had some company for an audience in good friend and former ‘blazer Damian Lillard, who came down from Milwaukee to watch his alma mater. And if you weren’t sure, he was wearing a sweatshirt that read Dame Dolla. I guess it’s the brand.
CaruShow?
Then there were a few seconds of defensive survival mode, and so enter stage right Caruso.
You often picture Caruso the way he plays in one of those Spirit of 76 pantings with the blasts going off all around, carrying the tattered flag with that firm grip and steely eyes.
And then outmaneuvering the opposition.
It was 108-105 Bulls with 9.3 seconds left after the Vučević score. Portland was coming out of a timeout, and they obviously were going to Simons. He had the big numbers, but he seemed oblivious to everyone else on the court. He dribbled into some wild long threes earlier that he missed, and pretty much never let go of the ball.
Caruso was noticing.
“Once he didn’t break for the ball in the backcourt I knew they were going to run some sort of play where they threw it to somebody (Ayton) where they tried to get him on the run and hit him again,” explained Caruso. “So once they did that I tried to slow him. Up three, not much time left you look to foul. He came across half court. I didn’t like the look to foul because he was square to the basket and looked like he was ready to shoot. Once I saw when he was shooting it that’s a pretty routine play for me to be able to strip the ball as long as I’m the right distance; instinct just took over.”
That left Portland with the desperate two seconds left, and Anferee Simons, you’re no DeMar DeRozan.
Like Bullwinkle once said, this is no guy to take for granite.
“Outsiders might (take him for granted); we definitely don’t,” said Caruso. “Really thankful he's on our team. He's a competitor. He goes out there every night and does his best to help us win the game. A lot of times it's making the right plays late in the game. It’s sometimes more than just making a shot. It’s big rebounds tonight, it’s boxing out against their guys that are crashing hard and then finding Vooch on the mismatch down low for the layup to keep us up three. He just is a winner at heart.”
Like Confucius said, go with all your heart. Or like Bullwinkle said, watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat. No one seems to do it these days like DeMar DeRozan. It’s been magical.
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