LaVine steals the show in Brooklyn with huge fourth quarter
There were a couple of newsworthy events on Tuesday in Brooklyn: The Nets fired head coach Steve Nash and the Bulls held an opponent below 100 points for the first time this season.
To top it off, Zach LaVine outscored the Nets by himself in the fourth quarter to lead the Bulls to a 108-99 road victory.
LaVine scored 20 of his 29 points in the final quarter, while the Bulls outscored Brooklyn 31-19. LaVine hit 6 of 10 shots during the late surge, to go with 4 of 6 from 3-point range.
Nash was in his third season with the Nets, finishing with a 94-67 record. Assistant Jacque Vaughn took over as interim coach, amid rumors Brooklyn eventually plans to hire suspended Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka.
"We knew they were going to play hard," LaVine said on TNT after the game. "They've got Kev and Ky on their team. Those guys are going to come out and give you a challenge. For us, it was just sticking with it. They got up a little bit on us, but we have a mentality to always come back and we have the talent to do that."
Nets star Kevin Durant scored 32 points and said he found out Nash had been fired by watching ESPN. Kyrie Irving, who has been under some fire for controversial posts on social media, had a quiet night with 4 points and 7 assists.
"Let's be real, we're pros, we're veterans," Durant told reporters after the game. "We had a tough start, it was a rocky year last year, a rocky summer. We knew that everybody was being evaluated. That's just how it is in the league I liked working with Steve, I liked working with the coaching staff.
"It was a roller coaster the last few years, but the core of it, basketball is something we all love to do. Regardless of the coach, regardless of the circumstances, you've still got to come to work., so I enjoyed coming to work with Steve."
The Bulls started the night last in the NBA in first-quarter points allowed. They got off to a better start this time, with Patrick Williams keeping Durant in check. But when Williams went to the bench, Durant came alive and the Nets led 27-25 after one.
The Bulls trailed by 10 points late in the third quarter, then were able to force a Brooklyn dry spell while going on a 13-2 run to take the lead.
The next key sequence happened midway through the fourth quarter. The Bulls led by a point when LaVine hit a floater, then back-to-back 3-pointers. Nikola Vucevic scored in the post to cap a 10-0 run and put the Bulls ahead 101-90 with 4:57 left.
DeMar DeRozan had a rough shooting night, going 8-for-21 for 20 points. Ayo Dosunmu picked up some slack with 17 points and Williams finished with 12.
Goran Dragic, who finished last season with Brooklyn, showed up ready to play. The veteran guard hit 4 of 6 shots from 3-point range and led the Bulls in bench points with 15.
Irving has been in the spotlight for a few days thanks to a couple of controversial retweets - one for a movie that's been accused of spouting antisemitic views, and another by conspiracy mouthpiece Alex Jones.
Then he had a contentious interview room conversation with Nick Friedell, the formerly Chicago-based ESPN reporter, who asked for explanations and got none.
Irving didn't record his first basket of the night until the 10:20 mark of the fourth quarter, when he got past Williams for an easy lay in.
With the Bulls coming off consecutive off days, LaVine played in the first leg of back-to-back games. It seems unlikely he'll play in Wednesday's home game against Charlotte as he works his way back from left knee surgery.
Coby White did not play due to a left quad contusion suffered on Saturday against Philadelphia. Andre Drummond (left shoulder sprain) didn't make the trip and will likely miss a few more games.
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