SAN ANTONIO — It was a midrange jumper, of course. It was only fitting that it would be.
With 5:43 left in the first quarter Friday against the Spurs, Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan pulled up for a 19-footer and drained it, becoming the 50th player in NBA history to score 20,000 points in his career.
He finished the game with 33 points, but the Bulls lost to the Spurs 129-124.
Still, while the Bulls (3-3) were unable to win their third consecutive game, the night was all DeRozan’s.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who coached DeRozan for three seasons before the sign-and-trade deal that brought him to the Bulls, called a timeout right after the basket so that DeRozan could get a proper ovation from the crowd that used to cheer him nightly.
Included among those who were applauding when DeRozan popped up on the scoreboard was Popovich.
”A beautiful, wonderful human being,” Popovich said of DeRozan, referring to the relationship the two had as player and coach. ”One of the best that I’ve ever coached. I still stay in touch with him. He’s just a sweet man.”
And, at the same time, a lethal scorer. Afterward, DeRozan called the night ”surreal.”
”To be honest with you, it’s beyond surreal,” DeRozan said. ”Just being mentioned in scoring records, top 50 all-time, being able to get the respect from one of the greatest coaches of all time, having the honor to play here and these fans embrace me the way they did my three years [here], it’s just crazy how things come full circle.
”It didn’t feel real when it happened. I wish we would have gotten the win, but just to have that type of moment was definitely unforgettable.”
DeRozan entered the game seven points shy of the milestone. What made it even more impressive was that a lot of the work he did in reaching the plateau came from midrange jumpers and the free-throw line.
While the group of 20,000-point scorers might start to balloon with all the three-point shooters playing now, there was something old-school about DeRozan’s accomplishment.
”DeMar is incredibly humble,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. ”I think it’s a great reflection on the time and investment that he’s put into this throughout his career. He’s obviously always been a talented scorer, but he does it very, very efficiently.
”I think with this milestone, he’s in the top 50 players of all time. That’s pretty remarkable. I’m sure as a kid growing up, that’s not something he ever thought would happen, but he’s going to go down as one of the greatest scorers in this league.
”I do hope he can take some time and reflect on the journey to get to that point and do what he did.”
The Spurs didn’t give DeRozan much time to do that Friday, giving the Bulls all they could handle.
After spotting the Spurs an early 14-point lead, the Bulls were able to run them down but unable to pull away.
That became even more difficult when guard Ayo Dosunmu was forced into the locker room and checked for a concussion in the third quarter before returning in the fourth.
He returned to a nailbiter. The Spurs grabbed the lead with 4:31 left and kept it the rest of the way.
”It was just kind of a strange game,” DeRozan said. ”We’re still working through things on the defensive end, but this one was on us.”
