© Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
Scrappy Chicago Bulls pull off a huge win over the New Orleans Pelicans
The Chicago Bulls fought back from a 12-point deficit in the third quarter to take down the New Orleans Pelicans, 114-106, on Sunday night at the Smoothie King Center and improve to 27-30 for the season.
It was a rousing win for a Bulls squad rocked by one injury after another. Not long after announcing that Zach LaVine would miss the remainder of the season due to foot surgery, the Bulls promptly lost Patrick Williams for the season, as he, too, would undergo surgery to repair his injured foot. Torrey Craig will also miss two to four weeks because of a sprained knee.
Despite those, the Bulls showed remarkable resolve in taking down the Pelicans, thanks to spirited efforts from DeMar DeRozan, who had 24 points, including numerous buckets in crunchtime, and Nikola Vucevic, who had 22 points and 13 rebounds for the 500th double-double of his career.
Ayo Dosunmu added 21 points and eight assists in a whopping 39 minutes, while Coby White added 16, making only five of his 16 attempts in the game.
Down in the third
The Bulls looked out of it as the Pelicans went up 82-70 late in the third. But Chicago answered with 11 straight points, sparked by a triple by Vooch and capped off by a baseline jumper by Jevon Carter to pull to 82-81. The Bulls kept it going in the fourth and led, 96-89, after an and-one by Andre Drummond.
However, the Pelicans rallied to within two, 108-106, after a basket by Jonas Valanciunas with only 53 seconds left. But DeRozan came up with a crucial offensive rebound off a miss by Vooch and then drained a three-pointer from the right wing to extend the Bulls’ lead to 111-106, with time down to 30 seconds.
Free throws by DeRozan and White sealed the victory for Chicago.
Not giving in to adversity
Deebo knows the Bulls have their backs against the wall. With injuries forcing the remaining players to log in heavy minutes, DeRozan said they must stay mentally tough and not give in to adversity.
“It’s always easy when you have any type of adversity to fold, to make excuses, to give in, to pack it in, to whine, complain, you know,” DeRozan said.
“You don’t hear that from none of us. We just try to figure it out the best way we can.”
