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The Chicago Bulls lost their second game in a row on Monday night at the Miami Heat 112-99. The team continued what has been a worrisome trend of struggling against the top teams in the league.
The Bulls are just 2-13 this season against teams that have won at least 60% of their games. One of the glaring things that occurred in this loss for the Bulls is that DeMar DeRozan’s historic streak of ten straight games with 30 points or more came to an end. He had just 18 points on 7-16 shooting.
This is not to say the loss is on DeRozan, the Bulls had plenty of other things go wrong that caused them to lose to the Heat. Shooting 7-29 from three and committing 16 turnovers that led to 25 points to name a couple.
Glad It’s Over
DeRozan’s streak of 30 point games came just one short of tying Michael Jordan’s franchise record of 11. During the streak, DeRozan set an NBA record of eight straight games with at least 35 points and 50 percent shooting from the field. The previous record was held by Wilt Chamberlain with six straight games.
DeRozan also became just the seventh player in league history to record eight straight 35 point games. He joined Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and James Harden. DeRozan spoke on what historic steak was like for him after the loss on Monday night.
“Just going out there playing and competing,” said DeRozan, “doing whatever I could to go play. There was never a night where I said I go to go out there and get 30, I got to shoot this many times. I was just going out there playing and competing, whatever came with it came with it. I wanted wins to come out of it and with that I just had a streak to come with it. I’m glad it’s over with(laughs), so I can stop hearing everything about it.”
DeRozan got his wish, the Bulls went 7-3 during his ten-game streak. His streak was certainly impressive as his play has helped keep a shorthanded Bulls team near the top of the Eastern Conference Standings.
What’s Next?
The Bulls are still in second place in the Eastern Conference standings but are now two games behind the Miami Heat for first place. The team is also just one game in front of the Philadelphia 76ers.
With 20 games left in the regular season, the Bulls have the third toughest remaining schedule according to tankathon. The teams remaining schedule features three games with the Milwaukee Bucks, two games with the Cleveland Cavaliers, along with one game each against the Phoenix Suns, Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, and Utah Jazz.
Following his historic run, DeRozan now has the fourth-best odds to win the NBA MVP award at +1200 according to Vegas Insider. He’s also now fourth in the league in scoring at 28.2 points per game and is just 1.6 points behind Joel Embiid who leads the league in scoring.
The Bulls continue to be optimistic that they’ll be fully healthy again before the end of the regular season. With Zach LaVine already back, once he’s able to return to form it should lighten the load DeRozan has been carrying. While the expected returns of Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, and Patrick Williams will greatly help the teams depth.
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