On January 1, 2022, in an NBA regular season game that ended in the early morning, the Bulls and pacers fought hard after 4 quarters, and finally won the game with DeRozan's 3-point kill, after which the Bulls won 6 consecutive wins, with a record of 23 wins and 10 losses to tie the Nets, with the advantage of the two sides, the Nets returned to the first place in the East.
In the last 12 seconds, the Bulls ball, they were 1 point behind the Pacers, the ball was handed over to DeRozan, he held the ball through the midfield, at the top of the arc to borrow Vucevic's cover to dribble the ball to the right, before the lights came on, directly facing the defenders on horseback to complete the difficult 3-point shot, the lights whistled to the ball, DeRozan with a shocking kill, helped the Bulls win the game.
This 3-point whistle kill in the regular time period is the first player for the Bulls to complete a three-point whistle kill in regular time since Jordan in 1997. DeRozan's death broke the bull's 24-year history, rivaling Jordan, the god of basketball!
In this game, DeRozan shot 8 of 24, the shooting rate is not high, he only 4 of 16 shots in the first three quarters, scoring 15 points, but in the fourth quarter he shot 4 of 8, cut 13 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 2 steals, once again showing the style of the "king of the last quarter".
After this game, DeRozan has scored 232 points in the final quarter so far this season, ranking first in the league, shooting 53.2% from the final quarter, ranking first among all players who have made more than 150 shots, and the king of the middle shots who is not interested in 3 points has reached 50% of the 3-point shooting rate in the final quarter, showing the top key moment finishing ability! Compared with the tepid and declining state of the past few at the Spurs, deRozan today, in terms of technical and mental maturity, has even surpassed the peak of the Raptors, almost reaching a new peak in his career.
So far this season, DeRozan has averaged 26.8 points, 5 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game, ranking second in his career in scoring per game, and compared with his stats, the help he brought to the team after coming to the Bulls more directly reflects his value. And with the All-Star vote approaching, the discussion about DeRozan's return to the All-Star lineup, and even the starting lineup, is getting more and more intense. After leaving the Raptors, DeRozan played for the Spurs for 3 seasons, and the all-star lineup gradually drifted away, and even made many media and fans think that DeRozan's age, and the state he showed on the court, has completely bid farewell to the all-star lineup, but no one will expect that DeRozan will have a new spring after returning to the East. Judging from the current competition in the East, DeRozan's return to the starting lineup is almost without any controversy, but he is likely to threaten the position of Harden, who has just recovered from his form.
At present, the backcourt starting competition in the East is mainly between DeRozan, LaVine, Harden and Butler, and in terms of performance, whether it is the team's record or the stability of the state, DeRozan and Lavine have more advantages, because Harden was even sprayed by many fans at the beginning of the season to near retirement, if it were not for the return of 3 consecutive games after this truce, Harden was almost completely at a disadvantage in the discussion of the All-Star team, and if he could continue the state of the past 3 games in the next game, there is no doubt, Harden will once again be a hot candidate for the All-Star. After all, in addition to his personal performance, Harden also has an advantage over DeRozan and Lavin in popularity. But with the performance of the Bulls this season, it will not be surprising that DeRozan and Lavin will be selected into the starting lineup together, so if Harden wants to be the starting candidate, whether he can continue his recent state in the next period of time will be very critical.