On January 1, 2022, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued. In the Bulls' away game against the Pacers, DeRozan hit a 3-point shot in the final moments of the game, giving the Bulls a perfect start to the New Year! With DeRozan's deadly three-pointer, the Bulls beat the Pacers 108-106.
After this game, the Bulls won six consecutive games, and the record reached 23 wins and 10 losses, which was equal to the Nets. With the win-loss relationship between these two teams, the Bulls are currently ranked No. 1 on the Eastern Conference record list! The situation in the East this season is basically the bulls, nets and bucks standing on three legs. Who can finally finish in the 1st place in the East in the regular season is very important: the team that finishes the 1st place in the East at the end of the season will most likely be able to wait and watch the 2nd and 3rd places in the East fight in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
DeRozan's feel in this game is actually not good. He played 35 minutes in the game, scoring 28 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists. The data looks pretty good, but the hit rate isn't great. He made just 8 of 24 shots and 1 of 3 from three-point range. DeRozan's only three-pointer of the game was the Three-Pointer of the Pacers. This also shows DeRozan's responsibility and confidence this season! When the team needs a 3-pointer in the final moments, not every superstar dares to shoot!
Seeing that DeRozan was able to calmly shoot and complete the kill in the last 1 second of the game, when the team was behind, what could you think of first? Anyway, I immediately thought of it, when Kobe Bryant faced Wade's defense in the last moments of the game, the difficult three-point shot hit, and the reverse defeat helped the Lakers kill the Heat. Take a look at the following 2 GIFs: can't say very similar, it's exactly the same.
It can be said that this ball DeRozan is a copy of Kobe's miracle. Personally, the only thing I think is imperfect is that DeRozan is not wearing a Lakers jersey. I don't know what lakers management really thinks in the offseason. At that time, DeRozan had already told the people around him that he was going to play with the Lakers. This shows that the Lakers are infinitely close to getting DeRozan. Not knowing what happened in between, the Lakers quickly gave up the imminent DeRozan and traded for Westbrook.
Look at DeRozan with $26 million this season, and look at Westbrook with more than $40 million, I don't know if the Lakers management will regret it now? You said that James had such a big say in the team, why didn't he interfere with the operation of the team at that time? Think of james' fatal misstep in the final moments when the Lakers played against the Grizzlies. If it had been DeRozan and not Westbrook on the court, James would have been able to deliver a wonderful three-point assist!
DeRozan has averaged 35.2 minutes per game this season and can finish with 26.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists. Westbrook has averaged 36.1 minutes per game this season and averaged 19.7 points, 8.1 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game. Statistically, DeRozan and Westbrook are equally good, but in different styles. But after watching the game, you know that There is a difference in weight between Westbrook's performance this season and DeRozan's.