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It was a great week of football for all fans of the sport at any level. The weekend was loaded with NFL action, the College Football Playoff, and numerous Bowl Games across the country. As an organization that has a lot of building to do this offseason, we can only hope that the Chicago Bears were watching.

Before their game against the New York Giants, some great collegiate head coaches were out there trying to get their teams what they needed to be prepared for the big games. In particular, the New Years Day Bowls and the College Football Playoffs were spectacular to watch.

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PORTLAND, Ore. — Atlanta Hawks star point guard Trae Young scored an NBA season-best 56 points in a 136-131 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night.

Young shot 17 for 26 from the field, 7 for 12 from 3-point distance and 15 for 15 from the line for his career-high scoring total, and added 14 assists. His 56-point game eclipsed Kevin Durant‘s 51-point performance for the Nets at Detroit on Dec. 12. Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Boston’s Jaylen Brown have had 50-point games this season.

Young became the first player with 50-plus points and 14-plus assists in a game since James Harden with the Houston Rockets on Dec. 31, 2016.

He also scored or assisted on 86 points, tying for the most in a game in his career and the third-most by anyone in the last 25 seasons (Harden). Young previously created 86 points in a quadruple overtime game against the Bulls in 2019, when he had 49 points and 16 assists.

Anfernee Simons had a career-high 43 points to help the Portland Trail Blazers snap a four-game losing streak. Simons had a career-high nine 3-pointers, the most for a Portland player this season. After missing Portland’s last game, Simons started in place of All-Star Damian Lillard, who was out because of injury management.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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NEW YORK — Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane has heard the chatter about whether his backcourt mate, Ja Morant, should make his first All-Star Game this season.

But after Morant’s latest dominant performance — 36 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and a game-high plus-24 in 33 minutes of a 118-104 Memphis victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night at Barclays Center — Bane said people are having the wrong debate.

“He’s special,” said Bane, whose 29 points helped propel Memphis to a fifth straight win. “People debate whether or not he should be an All-Star, but I think we should be debating whether he’s the best point guard in the league.

“I don’t think it’s any question he’s an All-Star. The real conversation is, ‘Is he the best point guard in the league?'”

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While a certain guy who wears No. 30 is plying his trade in the Bay Area, Morant likely will have a tough time earning that title. But what can no longer be disputed is that the third-year guard has officially arrived as a star.

Last week, Morant poured in 41 points to beat LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in Memphis, Tennessee. Monday, it was Kevin Durant‘s turn to see Morant slice and dice his way through an opponent, as the Grizzlies continue to firmly establish themselves as a top-four seed in the Western Conference.

“I mean he’s just controlling the game and always been an efficient player who can run the point guard spot,” said Durant, who scored 26 points but was uncharacteristically inefficient in finishing 8-for-24 from the floor. “He’s developed into a major scorer, as well. He just plays with great pace out there, plays with joy and enthusiasm and you’ve seen him blossom in front of our eyes.

“Since college he’s been on this trajectory. As a basketball fan, I can’t wait to see what it’s like years going forward.”

Forget the years going forward — Morant’s present is already pretty good, as he demonstrated in a scintillating third quarter that blew open a game that Memphis led by just six at the half.

The Grizzlies outscored the Nets 40-26 in that frame, with Morant scoring half of his 36 points in those 12 minutes alone.

And while the highlights likely will focus on his spectacular dunk — Morant swooped in from the left-hand side to detonate at the rim — it was his repeated attacks through Brooklyn’s defense for one contorted layup after another that were arguably more impressive.

“Just stay aggressive, pretty much,” Morant said when asked what his mindset was in that third quarter. “I thought we played very well in that first half, [but] we really didn’t get out and run as much.

“My job is we get stops, we get the board, push the pace, whether it’s me pushing the ball down the floor or kicking the ball ahead. … I was able to get downhill and go score and find my teammates.”

Memphis is now 10 games over .500 and several games ahead of the cluster of teams battling for the 5-10 spots in the Western Conference playoff picture.

It was a dominant performance, one that saw Memphis outrebound Brooklyn by 29, and was far more lopsided than the final score indicated, thanks to a largely meaningless run by the end of Brooklyn’s bench in the fourth quarter. That didn’t change Nets coach Steve Nash’s assessment of his team’s play since recovering from a teamwide COVID-19 outbreak ahead of what should be Kyrie Irving‘s season debut Wednesday at Indiana.

“Let’s not overreact, but that was embarrassing tonight,” Nash said. “We got our butts kicked, and we got to do a lot better to get back to the standard that we played at before.”

The team Memphis has built around Morant — from the talent amassed by general manager Zach Kleiman, including pieces like Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr., to the coaching of Taylor Jenkins — has allowed the Grizzlies to keep winning no matter who is available.

But despite the Grizzlies’ not only surviving, but thriving, while shuttling players in and out of the lineup — a situation virtually every NBA team is dealing with these days — it is Morant who undoubtedly is the engine that makes the team go.

“Obviously I’ve come out and said he’s absolutely an All-Star, but I think the follow-up to that is because he impacts winning,” Jenkins said. “His style of play, it’s whatever his teammates need … but a performance like that, all he cares about is let’s keep winning, let’s keep winning, let’s keep winning.”

When asked about the All-Star chatter himself, Morant said he wasn’t going to do any campaigning through the media. Instead, he said he’d leave that for others — and let his game do the talking for him.

“I really don’t focus on it too much, honestly,” he said. “Everybody who knows me, including my teammates, people throughout the organization, know I’m a very humble guy, but that I’m also confident.

“So I’m gonna let my teammates continue to talk for me,” he continued, before adding with a smile. “I’m just gonna go out there and do what I can on the floor to help prove their case right even more.”

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The Bulls quietly have moved into first place in the Eastern Conference.

They have a 25-10 record, including eight victories in a row, their most since the 2011-12 season.

Some of those victories have featured come-from-behind rallies and ridiculous last-second shots.

Forward DeMar DeRozan is responsible for the two most recent crazy finishes, nailing back-to-back, off-balance three-pointers as time expired to beat the Pacers and Wizards on the road Friday and Saturday.

The striking element about the Bulls, at least to me, is that they have two star players — guard Zach Lavine and DeRozan — who willingly work together.

Their stats are nearly identical. Before the Bulls’ 102-98 home victory Monday against the Magic, DeRozan was averaging 26.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists and LaVine 26.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists. When one wins a game or fires up a shot in traffic, the other seems genuinely happy — or at least content — with it.

And why is this unusual?

Because stars so often resent a teammate invading their precious territory of dominance. Think how often you hear NBA players talk about whose team it is, which basically means: Who gets the last shot? Who’s the egomaniac? Who’s the guy who sucks the oxygen out of the locker room?

When it’s everyone in various forms of harmony, that’s a real team. That’s rare.

After DeRozan made his game-winning treys Friday and Saturday, LaVine was so excited, he said, ”I thank God we got DeMar DeRozan on our team!”

For perspective, think about what Scottie Pippen dished in his new book, ”Unguarded,” about teammate Michael Jordan.

”I was a much better teammate than Michael ever was,” which Pippen writes in the prologue, doesn’t have the same ring as, ”First and foremost, it’s the friendship that all of us have, the respect we have for one another,” which is how DeRozan put it in mid-November.

There are other good players on these Bulls, center Nikola Vucevic and guard Lonzo Ball prime among them. Each often sees his game diminished for the betterment of the goal — winning — and they’re good with that.

With the parts in place, what it comes down to is attitude and, of course, coaching. For the Bulls, that comes from Billy Donovan. The veteran coach knows what he’s doing and has the team’s respect. Donovan’s job is to make the talent mesh and to keep the machine oiled and humming, not throwing sparks and smoke.

This might seem easy when you’ve got talent on your roster, but it’s not.

Yes, Phil Jackson had a nice ride to six NBA titles with his Jordan-led Bulls. But simple? Ha! Three of them came with Dennis Rodman at power forward. That’s easy only if you know how to coach a circus lion.

I think of the Bulls’ current cohesiveness and efficiency because I just watched the Peter Jackson-directed Disney+ series about the Beatles and the making of their 1970 album, ”Let It Be.”

I found it maddening.

There is so much wasted time, petty grieving, clowning around, lack of focus, passive-aggressive manipulation, even subliminal sabotage of others’ work that it’s shocking the group put out anything as complete and lasting as ”Get Back,” ”Across the Universe” and, of course, ”Let It Be.”

There are reasons for this — and one in particular: The Beatles had no coach. There’s no one to direct them, assist them, fire them up, tell them to knock it off, force them to pull together. Their manager, Brian Epstein, recently had died of a drug overdose at age 32. Their producer, George Martin, was an older, quiet man not given to directing them.

I listened to Martin when he spoke in Chicago years ago, and he struck me then as a nice, subdued, dignified man but not as a leader of young, rebellious, genius musicians. Nor was that his job.

What, for Lord’s sake, is Yoko Ono doing on set, attached to John Lennon like a leech, screeching at times into the mic?

Why can’t Paul McCartney see that his eagerness is overwhelming George Harrison?

Why doesn’t George speak up?

Couldn’t Ringo Starr tell John to quit the snark?

The band soon would break up, and all four members would go on to have No. 1 hits as solo artists. The talent was always there.

It’s just that the Beatles were greater than the parts. It’s like All-Stars, like basketball teams: Greatness still needs to be coached, to be helped.

The Bulls might have that shot at greatness right now. Let’s hope they don’t blow it.

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Billy Donovan felt just fine the last week.

His coffee table?

Still to be determined.

Thanks to an emotional roller coaster of DeMar DeRozan buzzer beaters while the Bulls coach was forced to watch the game at home as a spectator, Donovan’s furniture came close to joining him in the health and safety protocol.

“Well, the first one in Indiana I didn’t even know if we were going to get a shot up, the one legged, because I thought the clock was going to run out,” Donovan said on Monday, discussing both of DeRozan’s two game winners. “The second one [against the Wizards] I fell over the coffee table. I jumped up. I couldn’t believe the shot out of the corner.

“The two shots were really, really, really remarkable.”

So with Donovan returning after a five-game absence, it was nice for the coach to get a game in which late-game heroics weren’t needed.

Not a pretty win against Orlando at the United Center, but still a 102-98 win.

The eighth straight for the Bulls, which was their longest winning streak since March of 2012, and also a win that kept them atop the Eastern Conference by two games at 25-10.

“I thought physically our guys gave everything they had,” Donovan said. “Defensively, that’s what I was more focused on. This was a game to me that if we didn’t defend, we’d have a hard time to win. Now did we play well overall, no.”

Not only was Donovan back, but so was starting point guard Lonzo Ball.

Call it a rough re-entry for both.

Like they have now in three-straight games, the Bulls didn’t exactly come out of the gate looking like the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Whether it was all the moving parts that have been in and out of the lineup or simply that time of the year when the schedule just catches up with a team, it was once again lethargic moments, but more on the offensive end.

It had been the defense that was concerning Donovan while he was absent.

The Bulls spotted Orlando an 8-0 lead, and didn’t score until there was 8:46 left in that first quarter and DeRozan hit a free throw. Neither team was particularly sharp, but the Magic did build the lead to 11 until the Bulls reeled them in.

How ugly was that first? Orlando finished shooting 33.3% from the field, while the Bulls were even worse at 23.8% (5-for-21), including 1-of-9 from three.

There was only so much hocus-pocus Orlando could muster, however, and while the second quarter still wasn’t a thing of beauty, the Bulls flexed enough muscle to take the lead. With 8:04 left until the half, Derrick Jones Jr.’s tip-in gave the Bulls their first lead of the game.

A lead they built to five going into the locker room.

In a second half in which it felt like the Bulls would eventually pull away and put the 7-31 Magic in their rightful place, it never really got to that point. The Bulls seemed to control the third and fourth quarters, but never dominated the visiting team.

“When you have guys in and out there’s going to be slippage,” Donovan said.

DeRozan led the Bulls with 29 points, followed by LaVine’s 27. Coby White again had a solid performance, coming off the bench and putting up 17 points, and Nikola Vucevic continued his double-double tear, scoring 13 points with 17 rebounds. Ball shot just 1-for-8, and looked rusty.

Thankfully for the Bulls, they will now have three off days to rest and get some practice time in, hosting the Wizards on Friday.

“We can’t be satisfied with anything,” DeRozan said of Monday’s game. “We’re on a win streak, but we’re not satisfied with none of that.”

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In case you forgot, the city of Chicago’s mandate that certain city business will require proof of vaccination beginning today, January 3rd. Those business include, but are not limited to, bars, restaurants, gyms & other fitness clubs, and entertainment venues such as sporting events. Patrons will be required to show proof to enter these business, as per Mayor Lightfoot’s announcement in December.

The city’s decision comes after similar requirements were implemented in other major cities across the United States. This was inevitable it seemed like as the colder months set in and the new variant spread. It felt as if we were trending toward changes in restrictions, however, this was done in order to avoid the catastrophic possibility of shutting down indoor usage of local establishments—a move that decimated a lot of small businesses in 2020.

The time to get vaccinated is now.

It’s the best way to protect yourself and your family from severe illness or death from COVID.

The new vax requirement for certain indoor spaces goes into effect on Jan. 3rd. Find more information and resources on https://t.co/Kx6nROXUYQ pic.twitter.com/LaDyRohE7M

— Chicago Department of Public Health – CDPH (@ChiPublicHealth) December 22, 2021

Sam Toia, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association, said his group pushed for “as business-friendly mitigations as they could get” amid the surge since the industry is still in a “fragile recovery,” he said. “Capacity limits would kill the the industry,” but vaccine passports would keep businesses in operation, Toia said.

Here is a list of businesses that will require proof of vaccination beginning today, via Block Club Chicago:

Indoor dining spots

Restaurants.
Bars.
Fast food establishments.
Coffee shops.
Tasting rooms.
Cafeterias.
Food courts.
Dining areas of grocery stores.
Breweries.
Wineries.
Distilleries.
Banquet halls.
Hotel ballrooms.

Indoor fitness establishments

Gyms.
Recreation facilities.
Fitness centers.
Yoga, pilates, cycling, barre and dance studios.
Hotel gyms.
Boxing and kickboxing gyms.
Fitness boot camps.
Other facilities used for conducting indoor group fitness classes.

Indoor entertainment and recreation venues where food and drinks are served

Movie theaters.
Music and concert venues.
Live performance venues.
Adult entertainment venues.
Commercial event and party venues.
Sports arenas.
Performing arts theaters.
Bowling alleys.
Arcades.
Card rooms.
Family entertainment centers.
Play areas.
Pool and billiard halls.
Other recreational game centers.

However, there are a indoor places that are exempt from this. They are:

Schools.
Day cares.
Houses of worship.
Grocery stores (though indoor dining sections inside grocery stores are included in the mandate).
Locations in O’Hare and Midway airports.
Locations in residential or office buildings that are limited to residents, owners or tenants of the building.
Food service establishments that provide charitable food services, like soup kitchens.

Featured Image Credit: Jeremy Bezanger on Unsplash

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