© Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
Chicago Bulls rally from 22 points down to thwart the Sacramento Kings
The rollercoaster ride known as the Chicago Bulls’ season went through another high on Monday night as they stormed back from a massive 22-point third-quarter deficit to defeat the Sacramento Kings, 113-109, at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. It was a hard-earned victory that allowed the Bulls to get this road trip off to a victorious start and improve their record to 29-32 for the season.
All seemed lost
The Bulls appeared headed towards a second straight loss when they fell behind, 89-67, with three minutes left in the third. However, rather than hang their heads in the face of an awesome deficit, the Bulls stood defiant and rallied behind the play of DeMar DeRozan—who scored 19 points in the fourth—and Coby White, who tied the game up at 109-all with a tough layup with 1:32 left in the game.
After missing a triple on their next offensive, Nikola Vucevic grabbed the offensive board and got the ball back to White, who drove into the teeth of the Kings’ defense and scored to shove the Bulls ahead, 111-109, time down to 47.1 seconds.
The Kings’ De’Aaron Fox missed the potential go-ahead triple and threw a bad pass to give possession back to the Bulls. DeRozan then iced the win by making two free throws with 3.5 ticks to go.
Win ugly
After the game, White—who set a new career-high in points with 37—said this was a much-needed victory, especially after the whooping they got at the hands of Milwaukee last Friday.
“At this point in the season, however you can get wins, you’ve got to get wins,” White said.
“You’ve got to start stacking wins. I don’t care how we get them. I don’t care how it looks. At the end of the day, if we win, that’s all we care about.”
DeRozan added 33 markers—28 coming in the second half—while Ayo Dosunmu added 20 points and five assists. Vooch had a double-double of 10 points and 13 boards.
