Getty DeMar DeRozan #11, Chicago Bulls, Isaac Okoro #35, Cleveland Cavaliers
After the Chicago Bulls lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers on New Years’ Eve, 103-102, Daniel Greenberg tweeted that the NBA had announced that they had missed a foul call on DeMar DeRozan’s last-second shot.
“The NBA has announced that Chicago Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan got fouled on his game-winning attempt in last night’s game and should’ve been awarded 2 free throws,” Greenberg tweeted.
The play in question happened when DeRozan tried to shoot a midrange jumper over Caris LeVert, which rimmed out as the buzzer sounded.
DeMar DeRozan said he felt the look he ultimately got on Bulls’ final play was a good one: “I got it over the guys, got it to the rim. It was on line, just rimmed out.”
First read was to take it to post, but he said he tried to shoot gap once saw Donovan Mitchell shading over.
After the NBA announced that they missed the foul call, Bulls fans were not too happy about what happened, asking if there was anything that could be done to change the end result.
@ChiSportUpdates @DaveKerner What good does that do? Why can’t it be corrected at the time?
Others pointed out that such an occurrence, according to them, was not the first time this had happened.
@ChiSportUpdates Isn’t this like the 3rd time this season this has happened
One pointed out that the NBA confirming this indicated that referees hate the Bulls.
@ChiSportUpdates Refs hate Chicago confirmed.
With the loss, the Bulls are now 16-20, which ties them with the Toronto Raptors for the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference standings.
Billy Donovan Explains Final Shot
After the Bulls lost to the Cavaliers, Donovan explained what happened on the final shot. Donovan said “no” when he was asked if the shot DeRozan took was the one he had envisioned when game-planning for the final play.
“I thought DeMar got caught up a little bit too high. That was part of the play. And then I think the way that our spacing ended up being, it certainly made it difficult at that point in time,” Donovan said, per Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago. “He needed to obviously try to find a shot. It wasn’t like he got off a terrible one, but obviously a tough one.”
Although DeRozan missed the shot – which the NBA later confirmed that he was fouled on the play – DeRozan has proven himself to hit clutch shots. Will Gottlieb made note that New Years’ Eve 2022 was the one-year anniversary of DeRozan hitting a buzzer-beating three-pointer to help the Bulls defeat the Indiana Pacers.
One year ago today, New Year’s Eve 2021, DeMar DeRozan gave us this work of art
DeRozan’s Thoughts on Loss
Though the Bulls ended up losing to their division rival, DeRozan made it clear that he was happy with his team’s efforts down the stretch.
“We gave ourselves a chance. We fought hard. Last couple minutes, we busted our butts defensively. Gave ourselves a chance. If it (the last shot) go in, it go in — it’d be a different story. But I’m proud of the guys. How we fought, we stayed with it,” DeRozan said.
When asked if they could build off this, DeRozan made it clear how the Bulls competed in the last few minutes makes him believe they can use that for their next matchup against the Cavaliers.
“I’m happy with how we competed those last few minutes. We played hard. We played tough. We was locked in. We was focused. We understood what we needed to do, how we needed to do it. And we was locked in together. Take more of that to the next game, going on the road, understanding we just lost. Only way to get ’em back is to bring that same type of intensity.”