Zach LaVine has his fingerprints all over the Chicago Bulls' incredible Play-in win with extraordinary performance

Chicago Bulls wingman Zach LaVine can be a polarizing figure among the franchise's fans. That is what usually happens when you're the owner of a five-year, $215 million contract, and the team fails to make it straight to the NBA Playoffs. However, with the Bulls in dire straits, facing a 19-point deficit in the third quarter of a do-or-die game, LaVine showed how he's worth every single penny with a sensational performance that lifted Chicago past Toronto and a step closer to the NBA Playoffs.

Although there were plenty of heroes for Chicago, Bulls coach Billy Donovan made it clear who was at the center of it all when he said: "What he did going into the third quarter and into the fourth, it would have been very, very difficult for us to have won that game if he had not done that," Donovan said about LaVine. "His performance was extraordinary. It gave us life, and it gave us hope.

Zach LaVine is a baaaaaaaaad man 🥶

39 points | 12-22 FG | 6 reb | 3 ast pic.twitter.com/RRkTu0JIxR
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) April 13, 2023

39-point masterpiece

LaVine did not only score 39 points—30 of which came in the final 24 minutes—but he was also efficient with it, making 12-of-22 shots and 13 of his 15 from the line, including two that gave the Bulls a 107-104 lead with just 17.9 seconds remaining.

Donovan noted how super aggressive LaVine was with his moves and decision-making, which bode well for the Bulls making a push to get into the Play-in and now past the Raptors.

"He was assertive and aggressive and very decisive. When he does that, I feel like he's at his best," Donovan said. "When he's not trying to survey and hold the ball, and he just goes in attack mode, he's incredibly difficult to guard. It's very hard to load up, and it enables him to get a lot of different parts of his game in there. He can pass it, stop and shoot it or get to the rim."

ZACH LAVINE IS COLD 🥶@ZachLaVine | #SeeRed pic.twitter.com/LfvGphfsf3
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) April 13, 2023

Put his will on the game

Things looked bleak for the Bulls as they fell behind by 19, 66-47, early in the third. That's when LaVine took over and it was a sight to see, said teammate DeMar DeRozan.

"Amazing. He carried us. He was aggressive, downhill. He put his will on the game, and we all followed behind that, offensively and defensively," DeRozan commented. "That's why he is who he is. It was great. I knew it was coming when I saw his feet start moving fast. When he gets aggressive and gets downhill, nobody can stop him."

PULL-UP ZACH.@ZachLaVine | #SeeRed pic.twitter.com/Uxjv0NUiK5
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) April 13, 2023