DeRozan brings back midrange magic to end Bulls' losing streak
With another game slipping away in the fourth quarter, the Bulls turned to a familiar formula, DeMar DeRozan and his midrange magic.
The step down in competition helped as well, but DeRozan's 36 points enabled the Bulls to end their five-game losing streak with a 114-108 victory at Detroit on Wednesday.
"I didn't want to lose another game," DeRozan said. "I didn't care who we were playing tonight. That was just my mentality, didn't want to lose another game."
DeRozan scored 16 of his points in the fourth quarter, hitting 6 of 9 shots from the field.
During the losing streak, DeRozan clearly lost the shooting rhythm that brought about his NBA-record eight-game streak of 35 points and 50% shooting.
He didn't hit 50% in this game, but 12 of 25 from the field and 12 of 13 free throws was enough to stop the skid. Zach LaVine added 25 points and Nikola Vucevic returned from a hamstring injury to score 21.
DeRozan even increased his workload in this game, playing all but 90 seconds in the final quarter.
"I asked to go back early, so that's on me," he said. "I just didn't want the game to get away. Like I said, at this point in the season everything matters. If I've got to play 48 (minutes), I'm willing to play 48. Because everything matters, no time for rest. Every one of these games is definitely critical."
The Bulls (40-26) completed a 4-0 season sweep of the Pistons. So this wasn't the level of competition they have been playing, but Detroit had been on a roll, winning three in a row and six of its last eight. The Bulls extended their win streak over the Pistons to 11 straight.
The Bulls trailed by 7 points with eight minutes remaining, then put together a rally built around solid defense and friendly whistles. They collected 5 steals and a blocked shot in the fourth quarter, and finished with 13 steals for the game, matching a season-high.
The comeback also included 8 quick free throws, which is significant because the Bulls had been outscored by a wide margin at the foul line during the losing streak. They led the Pistons in made free throws 31-13 in this game.
DeRozan tied the score at 99-99 with 6:06 remaining with a pair of free throws. He drew a foul that came with a late whistle and had Pistons rookie Cade Cunningham beside himself, but that stuff tends to happen to young teams in the NBA.
"We just haven't been aggressive," DeRozan said. "We've been putting a lot of teams on the free-throw line, get them in rhythm, get them easy buckets, and we've kind of been shying away from that and one thing me and Zach talked about was being more aggressive, trying to get downhill and get to the free-throw line and it showed tonight."
After the free throws, DeRozan hit three straight jumpers as the Bulls used a 17-2 run to take control. For more than three quarters, the Bulls had many of the careless moments that have been plaguing their chase for a top seed in the East.
"We've got to play like that from the gate," DeRozan said. "We show spurts of doing it, but we've got to do it out of the game. We've got to stop putting ourselves in a hole and then working that much harder to get back in games."
Vucevic returned to the starting lineup after missing Monday's loss to Philadelphia with a right hamstring strain. Pistons center Isaiah Stewart missed the game with a knee injury, which gave Vucevic some room to work. The Bulls kept him at six minutes stints and he played 29 minutes overall.
"It was fine," Vucevic said. "I'm used to playing more minutes, but we wanted to be on the careful side just to be smart about it. In the Milwaukee game in the second half, I started to feel a lot of tightness in it.
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