But stunningly and to their immense credit they schemed for the win. The Bulls coaching staff, missing head man Billy Donovan to the Covid protocol, could’ve angled for overtime. After Kuzma knocked down a three-ball to put the Wizards up 119-117 with three second left, the capacity crowd at Capital One Arena crowd was delirious.īut there was no panic on the Chicago bench this was déjà vu, after all. And watching him puncture the Wizards defense with his devastating mid-range game, it was hard not to be reminded of another clutch Bulls shooting guard. Come the fourth quarter, it was DeRozan’s time to shine. Not with Zach LaVine sinking in buckets from deep, Nikola Vučević controlling the boards and Coby White (filling in for Caruso and starting point guard Lonzo Ball) setting the tempo at both ends. It was a classic Pack It In game, and it looked as if the Bulls would do just that as Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma shot Washington out to a double-digit lead.Ĭhicago never fell too far behind, though. Here was a Bulls team playing its third game in four on the road, with key players out with injuries or Covid scares, facing a Wizards team that was as hot as they’ve been all season. He hit the second one on New Year’s Day versus Washington, a game that proved to be quite the character study.
Photograph: Peter Pawinski/AFP/Getty Images The 1990s Chicago Bulls, who won six NBA titles over an eight-year span, are among the most feted dynasties in the history of sports. Two of those victories would come courtesy of consecutive DeMar DeRozan buzzer-beaters. Until a Sunday night loss to Dallas, Chicago were riding a nine-game winning streak– their longest in a decade. What’s more, some of these victories have come at the expense of the Super Nets and the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks. Being back, that’s a big statement.”īut now almost halfway through the season it’s hard not to be carried away by the sight of the Bulls perched atop the Eastern Conference standings after nearly surpassing their win total from last year. They won three championships in a row twice. “Eleven games into the season I don’t think you can say anybody’s back,” retorted Bulls guard Alex Caruso, “especially for the prestige of the Bulls. That the players on the other side of this compliment recognized as much was oddly steadying. The declaration, while flattering, was also a bit delusional.
“All I can say is, the Bulls are back, man,” he asserted after the game. After a 10-point drubbing of Dallas for win No 8, Mavericks guard Tim Hardaway Jr finally called it. But then the Bulls’ streak extended to seven in 10 games. It began with modest expectations, and then four victories on the trot – albeit against teams that, like Chicago, missed the postseason a year ago. And then after 2017, the Bulls weren’t good at all. But those teams were never as good as LeBron James’s Cavs and Heat teams. Some fight returned in the mid-aughts when hero marksman John Paxson took over as GM and more hope of a return to glory with it when Paxson selected future league MVP Derrick Rose with the top pick in the 2008 draft. Jerry Krause, the reviled general manager, blew up the team, and over the next five years this once-enviable franchise became one of the league’s worst. But after the 1998 NBA championship, their sixth title in eight seasons, the Bulls’ decline came swiftly.
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