On January 24, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, the East strength and weakness showdown, the Bulls 95-114 fiasco to the first-to-last Magic, this game before the first quarter and a half of the two teams also played back and forth, the second quarter was more than half, the Bulls suddenly muted, in 6 minutes by the Magic a wave of 20-6, at halftime, the Bulls have been 37-53 behind the Magic 16 points.
After the start of the second half, the Bulls were suppressed by magic and eventually swallowed a defeat. After this game, the Bulls suffered two consecutive defeats, and it is also the sixth defeat in the last seven games, and the current record is 28-17, falling from the original first place in the East to the third place in the East, and only 1.5 wins ahead of the 76ers (27 wins and 19 losses) in the sixth place in the East.
Although he lost, deRozan played really well in this game.
DeRozan scored 10 points in the first quarter, 20 at halftime, and in the fourth quarter, DeRozan scored 15 points again on 9-of-6 in the quarter. In the end, DeRozan played a total of 38 minutes, shooting 15 of 21 from the field and 11 of 13 from the free throw line, and had 41 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
This is DeRozan's first 40+ since 2018, when he also played for the Raptors, in addition, DeRozan did not shoot a three-pointer this game, and he became the fifth player since 2015 to score 40 points with 3-point 0 shots, the first four being Alphabet Brother, Aldridge, Westbrook and Simmons.
Another noteworthy stat is that DeRozan's presence plus-minus is +3, in other words, deRozan's absence for less than 10 minutes, the Bulls net loss of 22 points for the Magic, which is simply outrageous.
In the last seven games, although the Bulls have won 1 and lost 6, DeRozan has really tried his best:
Against the Magic, he scored 41 points on 15-of-21 shooting
Against the Bucks, he scored 35 points on 9-of-18 shooting
Against the Cavaliers, he scored 30 points on 14-of-24 shooting
Against the Grizzlies, he scored 24 points on 10-of-24 shooting
Against the Green Army, he scored 23 points on 7-of-20 shooting
Against the Warriors, he scored 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting
Against the Nets, he scored 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting
In seven games, DeRozan averaged 27.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game, shooting 50.4 percent from the field. It should be said that DeRozan shot a total of 4 of 4 three-pointers during this period - only to discuss three points, DeRozan is really not good at it, but in terms of overall performance, DeRozan not only did not pull the crotch, but even better than the season average (26.3 points, 49.5%).
In the past period, Azan was really difficult, and he did not change much in terms of personal play, but the team faced a large number of injuries:
— LaVine injured his left knee shortly after the start of the game against the Warriors and has missed five games so far
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— Caruso had been absent for a month before returning from a game against the Cavaliers, only to be brought down in the air against the Bucks by Grayson Allen, suffered a wrist fracture and was expected to miss 27-29 games
Jones Jr. suffered a knee contusion in a game against the Nets and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks
— Pavey dislocated his left wrist at the beginning of the season and is expected to be reimbursed for the regular season
In addition to injuries, the team's other core, Vucevic, has been feeling bad for a whole season, taking this game against the Magic, Vucevic shot 4-of-19 from the field, only scored 13 points, with a plus-minus of -20 on the field, the lowest in the team.
Throughout the season, Vucevic's average per game is 16.3 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists, shooting 43.1%, shooting 32.3% from three points, and shooting 49.6% from the field - all say the Bulls are the "Big Three", and Vucevic's performance this year is not a giant.
On the bright side, LaVine will soon return from injury and DeRozan can finally usher in a helper, but in the long run, it will take some time for Brother Ball and Caruso to return, and the Bulls' backcourt defense will face no small challenge - although it is a little early, but hopefully before the start of the playoffs, the Bulls can usher in a healthy lineup, this team has been in the dark for the past few years, it is not easy to turn around, don't be knocked down by injuries.