NEW YORK – DeMar DeRozan wasn’t going to pull punches.
Not after this latest loss.
One game after a huge win in Cleveland over the weekend that had the Bulls strutting into the Big Apple? Bam! A left hook that few saw coming from a Knicks team that was supposed to be making summer vacation plans.
Even with DeRozan’s 37 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter, the Bulls (43-32) ended up earning a season split with Tom Thibodeau’s club in the wake of Monday’s 109-104 loss.
With Toronto getting the win over Boston, the Raptors have the same record as the Bulls, but lost the season series and the tie-breaker. Cleveland was now a game back for that play-in spot and the No. 7 seed.
In other words, this Bulls team still can’t figure out how to get out of its own way.
“Cleveland was a big game for us, we had an opportunity [Monday] to keep that going, but now we dropped this one,” DeRozan said. “It sucks, it’s frustrating, but we’ve got to let it be frustrating and then take it out on Washington. That’s all we can do. We can’t dwell on it too much. We’ve got to get this feeling off of us.”
Easier said than done, especially with how the night set up for the Bulls at Madison Square Garden.
It was pretty easy to see how the Bulls built an 11-point lead right out of the gate in that first quarter, shooting 4-for-6 from three-point range while the Knicks couldn’t throw it in the Hudson River if they were standing on Pier 46.
The 1-for-8 was evidence of that, as New York also started the game allowing the visiting team to shoot 63.2% from the field.
As efficient as that Bulls offense looked in those first 12 minutes, it was just as easy to see how that lead was lost a quarter later.
Six turnovers, 0-for-6 from three, and the Bulls watched a big lead slip to a three-point deficit at the half.
“That’s on us,” DeRozan said. “Once we got down, back to fighting that uphill battle. We’ve got to play hard no matter how we’re playing offensively.”
New York took a 81-75 lead into the fourth quarter, and that’s when DeRozan really started to do what he does best this season – take over the game.
Whether it was the mid-range or drawing fouls, DeRozan scored nine points in less than six minutes, bringing the Bulls to within four.
Not that Thibodeau didn’t expect it.
“I think it’s more the value of the shot,” Thibodeau said of DeRozan’s stellar season. “What people sometimes overlook is what he brings to the team. His ability to get into the restricted [area], his ability to get to the free throw line, and his ability to create value shots.
“In many ways he reminds me of [former Bull Jimmy] Butler. Butler wasn’t a great three-point shooter but you could always have great offense because of his passing ability, we know the value of free throws, we know the value of [scoring in] restricted [area], and they can create those shots. Then you look at DeMar and he’s always been a high-assist guy as well.”
As good as DeRozan was, the play of the game came with 23.2 seconds left, after DeRozan had cut it to a one-point game. A driving Immanuel Quickley found a wide-open Alec Burks in the corner for a three that ended up being the dagger.
“I got to do a better job,” DeRozan added. “All of us, but it starts with myself, Zach [LaVine], Vooch [Nikola Vucevic], AC [Alex Caruso] … we just have too many lapses where we get out of sync and that dictates our offense and our defense.”