Bulls star DeMar DeRozan ‘playing like the MVP’; outduels De’Aaron Fox in win over Kings
DeMar DeRozan outdueled De’Aaron Fox to send the Chicago Bulls into the All-Star break with the best record in the Eastern Conference.
DeRozan had 38 points, six rebounds and six assists in a 125-118 victory over the Kings on Wednesday night at United Center. DeRozan made 16 of 27 from the field to post his eighth consecutive 30-point game.
Coby White added 31 points on 11-of-19 shooting with six 3-pointers for the Bulls (38-21), who have won five in a row to move a half-game ahead of the Miami Heat for the No. 1 seed in the East. Nikola Vucevic had 21 points and 10 rebounds.
“Obviously, we had a tough time with DeRozan, as everybody has the past six or seven games,” interim Kings coach Alvin Gentry said. “And then when we tried to trap him, get the ball out of his hands, Coby White really hurt us, too.”
Fox had 33 points, six rebounds and nine assists for the Kings (22-38), who go into the break 3 ½ games behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the final play-in berth in the Western Conference. Fox has scored more than 25 points in all six games since returning from an ankle injury. Over the past five games, he has averaged 28.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists while shooting 50.5% from the field, 41.7% from 3-point range and 85.2% at the free-throw line.
Domantas Sabonis had 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting with 12 rebounds and eight assists for Sacramento. Justin Holiday made six 3-pointers to finish with 18 points. Harrison Barnes added 17.
DeRozan came into the game on a hot streak after averaging 37.6 points over the previous seven games, including a 40-point game against the San Antonio Spurs and a 45-point game against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“He’s playing like the MVP right now, I think we can all agree,” Fox said.
The Kings made a concerted effort to stay down on DeRozan’s pump fakes and sent different defenders at him to disrupt his rhythm. Barnes and Maurice Harkless took turns guarding him. Fox, Donte DiVincenzo and Holiday picked him up on switches. Sabonis helped, too, coming over to trap and double-team him at times.
That didn’t stop DeRozan. He scored 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting in the first half and 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting in the second half.
“Everybody has tried everything on DeRozan the last two and half to three weeks and none of it has worked,” Gentry said. “I wish we could have done better, but we’re not different than any other team in the league in that department.”
This story was originally published February 16, 2022 at 9:30 PM.
