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Bulls come back to force OT after bing down 11-points late in the fourth quarter. DeMar DeRozan continues to dominate late in games, showing the veteran leadership and the MVP caliber effort, especially when the game is on the line. With 4:58 left to go in the fourth, Reggie Jackson hit a pull up jumper to put the Clippers up by 11. Demar had “only” 26 points at the time, but that wouldn’t last for long. The Bulls led by Deebo would push to make it a game, trailing by just 3 points with a minute left. A layup by Lavine would bring the game within a point with just 17 seconds to go. DeRozan fouled Paul George on their next possession to send him to the free throw line, making both, to put the Clippers back up 3. DeRozan would make a quick, but emphatic dunk on the other end to cut the lead back to 1 with 9.3 seconds to go. Another quick foul, this time by Caruso to send Robert Covington to the line, he would also make both to once again extend the lead to 3. On the ensuing possession, Terrance Mann would make a big mistake, committing an away-from-the-play-foul sending DeMar to the line for 1 free throw and retaining possession of the ball, Demar makes the shot and cuts the lead to 2. Now all the Bulls need is a good shot. No timeouts for either team, nobody has a foul to give. Caruso is set to inbound. He is looking for DeMar and eventually has to just lob it in to him, over the turned back of Paul George. DeRozan takes one dribble, steps into a 3 from the top of the key, there’s a whistle as the ball bounces off the iron, DeRozan and Lavine both hit the floor from contact. The foul is on the shot, Paul George made contact with DeMar on the shot, and he is heading to the line for 3 free throws. He sinks the first, down 1. Sinks the second for his 40th point of the night and to tie the game. He’s 14 for 14 from the line for the game as he sets to shoot his final free throw, one that would win the game… and it misses. The clippers come up with the rebound but it’s too late, the game heads to over-time. The Bulls would outscore the Clippers 17 – 10 in the overtime period, with 10 of the 17 coming from DeRozan to complete a 50 point game, his highest scoring game of the season. What a performance!

DeMar scored 24 points in the last 5 minutes of the game, and overtime. Incredible. Patrick Williams played a career high in minutes and poured in a double-double with 10 points and 12 assists. Coby White’s box score isn’t anything that catches the eye, but he did have the 2nd highest +/- with a +17, DeRozan was +19 the two highest for either team. The Bulls will need to start knocking down shots if they are going to have a chance to make any headway in the playoffs, but tonight was definitely a good momentum booster heading into the final stretch of games.

You can find me on Twitter @GreNBA_ Let me know what you think the Bulls can do in the playoffs and who you think is their ideal matchup. As always, thanks for reading, this is All Net!

Jacob Grenemeier
March 31st, 2022

Photo Credit: https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/WNXHRDQQ7RHG7HUG25U5CXVTWI.jpg

Despite struggling on the road, the Chicago Bulls picked up a W against the Wizards on Wednesday night to finish off a 5-game road stretch. They went 2-3 over that span collecting their other win from the Cavaliers on Saturday. Four of the five games were winnable, the most difficult was facing up against the reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks. With the 4-7 seeds in the Eastern Conference standings only being separated by a game and a half, every one of these final games is crucial to avoid slipping into the play in tournament.

If the season ended today, the Bulls would be the 5 seed, matching up against Philadelphia in the 4 seed. Chicago has struggled to defend the East’s dominant big men all year, Embiid is no exception. The added threat of Harden makes this an even tougher matchup than it was before the trade deadline. Billy Donovan would need to come up with an exceptional gameplan to scheme for the Philly Powerhouse.

I do have faith that the Bulls will have the ability to steal at least one game on the road, if we can head back to Chicago with a 3-2 advantage, I think the United Center will be rocking and I like our chances. I like that a lot better than heading back to Philly for a game 7, but we have all seen what DeMar DeRozan has been capable of with the game on the line. DeRozan has not had much luck with post-season success, but this season we have seen him unleash a whole new level of potential and I am excited to see what that can look like in a gritty playoff series. I would like nothing more than for the Bulls to eliminate James Harden from the playoffs.

Of course, all of this is dependent on a healthy lineup. Both Zach Lavine and Alex Caruso look to be fighting through some pain. Zach with his knee injury and Caruso seems to have tweaked his back. The hope was to have Lonzo back by the playoffs but that now seems less than likely, however we did return PWill back to the lineup. We are going to need everyone we can get to make a push and play the disruptor role in this year’s playoffs, but I think this Bulls team has the heart and the hustle to shake things up.

With just six games remaining in the regular season, let’s hope the Bulls can snag at least four of those six and enter the playoffs on a good note, with health and ideally a more favorable matchup! I think the Bulls match up best against the Celtics, based on the fact the other options (Heat, Bucks, 76ers) all have dominant big men, and that spells trouble for this Bulls team as I noted earlier. Robert Williams went down with an unfortunate injury this week which further bolsters my stance that I would rather play the Celtics. Although it increases the Bulls odds, I do hope for a quick recovery for Timelord, he has a bright future in the NBA.

Get at me on Twitter @GreNBA_ Let me know your thoughts, who would you prefer the Bulls match up with in the first round and can they make a splash? As always, thanks for reading, this is all net!

Jacob Grenemeier
March 29th 2022

Photo Credit: https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/62311e20d5de500ed52177f5/Chicago-Bulls-v-Philadelphia-76ers/960×0.jpg?fit=bounds&format=jpg&width=960