DeMar DeRozan was, dare we say, yes dare, dare, absolutely Jordanesque Wednesday in the Bulls 132-129 overtime victory against the Indiana Pacers.
Right there from — and where have you heard this before — making the most improbable of shots to force overtime after not only leading the Bulls in fourth quarter and overtime scoring, a season-high 46 points in all, including the team’s first eight overtime points to give the Bulls a lead that they’d finally keep, and before his clutch game extender manufacturing a remarkable intentional free throw miss with 3.8 seconds left in regulation and a two-point Bulls deficit that enabled DeRozan to then stun the Pacers with his hoops magic.
And this, indeed, was some magical moments because it wasn’t just a moment when a player makes or misses for the game. It was imagination, instinct, incongruous, creativity, brinksmanship, mesmerizing, audacious, prodigious, charismatic, serendipitous while being solicitous, a kaleidoscope of unlikely and memorable events and thrills that defines the best in the game.
That’s right, we haven’t run out of adjectives for his exploits yet.
Keep ‘em coming.
“It’s like a survival mode that kicks in but in a fun way," said DeRozan, who chats about these things afterward like he’s just returned home from a leisurely meal.
Talk about eating up some opponents.
“You embrace those moments,” DeRozan instructed. “I’m not scared to fail. I'm not scared to try to make something happen. I want those moments more than anything. It always reminds me of my childhood, being a kid and doing the little fake down, jumping on the bed and fake shooting the shot. As a competitor, those moments are always something I try to relish.”
No hot dog he, but DeRozan sure knows how to cut the mustard.
“Me being a student of the game, I've seen the wildest outcomes," DeRozan explained. "I always keep that in mind. Anything is possible. It's not over until the time runs out. Whenever we're in a situation like that, I always think this could be another situation where something wild could happen in our favor and stick with it. It was one those games where everything got aligned for you and you have to take care of the moment. Tonight was one of those situations; you have to stick with it, and we stuck with it.
“I told JC (Jevon Carter, sitting next to DeRozan in the locker room post game and like most everyone else hanging on the words of the oracle) to start overtime…”
DeRozan then turned to Carter, as he would in some crucial late overtime plays to teammates when the desperate Pacers trapped, and they fell into DeRozan’s trap when he passed to Alex Caruso who laid the ball off to Torrey Craig for the final stake in the heart of the Pacers hopes.
“What’d I tell you?” DeRozan offered happily to a laughing Carter.
"He said he was gonna go crazy," Carter related about the pre-overtime declaration.
But only the Pacers went out of their minds as the Bulls at 31-34 crept a bit closer to Indiana, which fell to 37-30.
And one that surely will leave a mark as Indiana really had the game on one of the greatest blocks to be forgotten with 9.8 seconds left in regulation, Indiana back in front 115-114 in a game with 28 lead changes and ties and which the Bulls led by eight points entering the fourth quarter.
The Pacers retained the blocked shot — and it really was a special effort by Pascal Siakam — and the Bulls intentionally fouled with 5.5 seconds left in regulation. Andrew Nembhard casually made both free throws for a 117-114 Indiana lead with 5.5 seconds left in regulation. The Pacers then chose to intentionally foul to avoid a potential tying three, which with fewer than five seconds left is a common NBA strategy.
But then you have to get the purposely missed second free throw, or knock it around, or pretty much anything but what Indiana did, which was spike it out of bounds. Thus giving the Bulls the ball with 2.4 seconds left.
Seen this one before.
Indiana likely has some DeRozan nightmares with the first of those back-to-back three-point game-winners DeRozan introduced himself to the Bulls with a few years back.
“I was just trying to get a good miss, especially with (Nikola Vučević) Vooch and Dre (Andre Drummond) in there,” DeRozan explained about the free throw sequence in Wednesday's win. “I’m there and we got an even better tap out with him (Pacer) tapping the ball out of bounds and giving us another possession to make something happen, so I’m glad I missed the way I missed. AC was saying where and how to miss it, and I said, ‘I’ll try my best.’ I shot it high purposely. Sometimes that does not work out. But sometimes a bounce gives everyone a chance to gauge and kind of get a tip out from there.
“(Then on the inbounds play), I actually broke the play off,” DeRozan revealed. “I just found an opening and got the shot off. I told AC no matter what the play is I’m going to get open one way or another, and I kind of broke the play off and got to a spot where they didn’t think the ball was going to go. It’s not over ’til it’s over. Being in the league so long and being a student of the game and seeing the wildest outcomes win a game, I always keep that in mind that it’s not over until the time runs out. When we’re in a situation like that I always think something wild can happen in our favor. So stay with it.”
‘nuff said.
Though there was lugubriousness amidst the joy.
When Siakam finished that chase down block against Coby White in what looked like it was just about to be a Bulls clincher and three-point lead with less than 10 seconds to go, Siakam landed hard on White. White lay on the court and had to be helped limping to the locker room and did not return for the overtime.
It came when it looked like White would be the hero after twice in the last five minutes swiping cross-court Pacer passes that led to Bulls baskets before that third and fateful runout.
White after a slow start to the game left with 15 points as big time offensive support for DeRozan came from Caruso with 23 points and five threes — 4-of-4 and 13 points in the fourth quarter when it appeared the Pacers were taking control of the game — and Ayo Dosunmu with 20 points that included a bold drive with 1:33 left in regulation for a 112-109 Bulls lead and again in overtime with under a minute left.
“Others guys are going to have to step up and make plays and he’s (DeRozan) going to see different coverages, and a lot of times when that happens other guys have to make plays,” said Bulls coach Billy Donovan. “I give Ayo a lot of credit. He made a really good drive downhill and made a layup. Alex made a great play to find Torrey along the baseline.(to close overtime) Guys all have to step up and make plays. It can't just be DeMar. And he knows that. He’s obviously great and he’s going to have the ball in his hands, but I give him credit for showing trust in a lot of those guys
“We can’t just keep throwing the ball back to him,” acknowledged Donovan. “Somebody has to step up and make a play and I was proud of the way guys did that.”
Donovan said White’s injury was something with his hip, though Donovan said he wasn’t told anything else. White sat in his locker stall across from DeRozan as DeRozan spoke with reporters. Teammates came by to consult, console and counsel White, who seemed upbeat and sometimes laughing. He declined to comment to media, and Donovan said the Bulls wouldn’t know much more until White as examined in Chicago Thursday before the game with the Clippers.
The Bulls shot 52% overall and DeRozan flummoxed the Pacers with 15-of-17 free throws.
“It’s him reading the game and reading the defense, the shot making, key shots at key moments, the shot with two and a half seconds to go to give us a shot to go to overtime was remarkable,” said Donovan. "The way we played (in the huge loss to) Dallas, I always feel good about the way he’s going to come back and respond because he’s that competitive. He certainly made a lot of big shots through the entirety of the game.”
The Pacers didn’t much, 14-of-45 on threes and again a huge number of layups and dunks beating Bulls defenders off the dribble. Though it wasn’t debilitating the Bulls as it did against Dallas.
The Bulls led 30-28 after the first quarter, and then with a 15-1 second quarter run sparked by reserve T.J. McConnell with Tyrese Haliburton mostly ineffective the Pacers took a double-digit lead and 62-58 at halftime. The Pacers had a 47-16 bench scoring edge. McConnell had 16. Myles Turner led Indiana with 27 and 5-of-8 threes.
Caruso’s three-point shooting for his season-high kept the Bulls treading water and not drowning in the third quarter, and then DeRozan got everyone back in the boat.
“I thought DeMar did an unbelievable job reading the defense (on the regulation ending play),” said Donovan. “He kind of faked coming off the high side and was able to get down to the corner and give himself some space. It's just his IQ and feel for the game, his understanding of how the defense is playing him. DeMar is an incredible closer. Give him respect for that.
“However this all get analyzed in terms of luck or good fortune or whatever, but last year we were on the short end of the stick on of a lot of them,” Donovan said. “In those moments you can’t always control the ball going in, but you can control the shots you get, how you execute. I feel those guys were all on the same page and DeMar isn’t the kind of guy who, ’It’s me and nobody else.’ Some things have gone our way (in a league most overtime games). We’ve made some timely shots this year that have gotten us to overtime. Certainly if DeMar’s shot is short or long it’s a tough loss. But you’ve got to be able to make plays in those moments.”
Like the truly greats do; like DeMar DeRozan does.
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