McDermott leads Bulls past Grizzlies
Not sure if Fred Hoiberg ever received a puppy for his birthday when he was a kid. When it comes to unexpected gifts, though, it would be tough to top the one he got Sunday.
After a tough week, Doug McDermott found his shooting touch in Memphis. McDermott scored 20 points in the second quarter, finished with 31 and the Bulls pulled out an impressive 108-104 victory over Memphis at FedEx Forum.
Jimmy Butler put the Bulls ahead with a 16-foot pullup jumper with 25 seconds left. On the other end, Butler played solid defense on Grizlies guard Mike Conley, forcing to miss a tough jumper. McDermott pulled in the rebound and hung on until he was fouled and his free throws with 6.6 seconds left put the Bulls up by 4.
Butler had already knocked down a 20-foot jumper with 53.6 seconds on the clock, giving the Bulls a 2-point lead. Conley tied it with a jumper on the Grizzlies' next trip.
The Bulls really needed a shot of offense. With Dwyane Wade back home taking a rest day and Nikola Mirotic out for the fourth straight game with an illness, the Bulls managed just 14 points in Sunday's first quarter, their worst start this season
When McDermott caught fire, the Bulls poured in 38 points in the second quarter and led 52-46 at halftime.
The third-year forward showed some experience and versatility by taking 6-4 Memphis guard Troy Daniels into the post a few times and scoring on turnaround jumpers.
McDermott's highest-scoring game this season was 23 against Indiana on Oct. 29, the second game of the regular season.
His previous career-high was 30, set last March against Toronto.
In the previous four games, McDermott averaged 5.3 points and hit just 7 of 31 shots from the field (22.6 percent). Some of that time, Butler was sidelined by an illness and the Bulls really needed McDermott's scoring.
Coming off the illness and playing the second leg of back-to-back games, Butler (16 points) sort of bided his time in Sunday's game.
After McDermott's big quarter, the Bulls kept the lead most of the night. Memphis went ahead briefly in the fourth quarter before Butler's 3-pointer put the Bulls ahead 95-93 with 4:40 remaining. After the Grizzlies missed a couple of attempts from close range, Butler added 2 free throws and Michael Carter-Williams added a bank shot to make it 99-94 with 2:58 left.
Memphis center Marc Gasol scored on a drive, Taj Gibson hit 1 of 2 free throws, then a putback by Zach Randolph trimmed the lead to 100-98. After Butler missed a jumper, Conley tied the score at the foul line with 1:33 left.
The Bulls made a nice play on the other end, working the ball around up high before Carter-Williams found Gibson for a dunk. Randolph answered with a basket in the post to tie the score.
Hoiberg gave rookie forward Paul Zipser another start at small forward, while Butler slid over to Wade's shooting guard spot. Zipser scored 5 of the Bulls' first 10 points on Sunday.
Denzel Valentine, who missed a game on Thursday with an illness, played 10 minutes and did not score. Guard Jerian Grant did not play for the second straight game.
The Grizzlies had a 14-7 record at home heading into Sunday's action and sat in sixth place in the Western Conference.
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