Stacy Revere/Getty Images DeMar DeRozan
The Chicago Bulls won their fourth straight game on Monday night when they beat the San Antonio Spurs 120-109. The win improved the Bulls’ record to 37-21 on the season and moved them to within a half-game of the Miami Heat for first place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Once again the Bulls were led by DeMar DeRozan, who poured in 40 points on 16-24 shooting. 19 of his points came in the fourth quarter on what was a historic night for DeRozan. His performance landed him in the company of Wilt Chamberlain.
For DeRozan, last night’s performance was his sixth straight game of scoring at least 35 points and shooting 50% from the field. The last time a streak like that happened it was Wilt Chamberlain in 1963.
Special Night
It was definitely a big night for DeRozan as this historic performance came against his former team. After the game Spurs head coach Greg Popovich showed that he still has a lot of love for the Bulls star, whom he coached for three seasons before DeRozan joined the Bulls last summer.
DeRozan still thinks fondly of the Spurs and was clearly appreciative of his time there. He was asked about the embrace from Popovich after the game.
“Honestly, Pop took me in. Treated me with the utmost respect as a human being before I was even a player. The relationship that transitioned over the time that I was there was amazing, one I will never forget. I’m honored to be able to say I played with Greg Popovich and learned so much from him and just to share that moment at the end with him and Billy just speaks volumes of my career and it’s a cool picture that I have that I’m going to cherish,” said DeRozan.
DeRozan also said he wore black and silver shoes during the game as a nod to the Spurs and that he had some of his former teammates over to his house on Sunday to watch the Super Bowl.
During his three seasons in San Antonio DeRozan averaged 21.6 points, 6.2 assists, and 5.2 rebounds per game. He also acknowledged in the postgame that Popovich used to get on him about his defense.
“Oh my god he used to cuss me out … bad (laughing),” said DeRozan.
Career Year
In his first season in Chicago DeRozan is having the best season of his 12-year career. The Bulls star is averaging a career-best 27.9 points per game while notching the second-best field goal percentage of his career at 51.5%. DeRozan is also dishing out 5.1 assists per game and grabbing 5.2 rebounds per game.
DeRozan has carried the Bulls through an injury-riddled season and has been able to keep them near the top of the Eastern Conference. His play this season, recently got him selected to his fifth all-star game and he was named the Eastern Conference Player of the week on February 14.
DeRozan currently has the ninth-best odds to win MVP according to Oddsshark, but if his hot play continues his name will certainly climb up that list. He also could end up getting named to his third All-NBA team.
There is no question that DeRozan has been the Bulls MVP this season and he’ll need to continue to be until the team gets healthy.