DeMar DeRozan rose to MVP status after he had 8 straight games of 35+ points. He joined legends Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, James Harden, and Elgin Baylor as the only players to do it. Today, that streak came to an end when the Bulls went against the Memphis Grizzlies. DeRozan came up just short of 35 and had 31 points in the game.
A major obstacle in the face of DeRozan’s streak was Ja Morant. The Grizzlies superstar had a career-high 46 points in the game and led his team to victory. The Grizzlies only had 3 other players with double-digit scoring ( Desmond Bane – 12 points, Tyus Jones – 11 points, and Steven Adams who only had 12 points but dominated the boards and had 21 rebounds!) and it was all Ja.
The Bulls were better as a team but it wasn’t enough to overcome Ja’s crazy scoring. The Bulls had 5 players in double figures. DeRozan had 31 points and 7 rebounds, Zach Lavine had 28 points and 6 assists, Nikola Vucevic had 11 points and 12 rebounds, Javonte Green – 12 points, and Coby White had 15 points off the bench.
The major reason the Bulls lost, was being unable to contain Ja Morant and rebounding. The Bulls were outrebounded 61 to 41 by the Grizzlies. More than the loss what hurts is that DeRozan was just 4 points away from continuing the streak. DeRozan only had 7 points in the 1st half. He went off in the second half and had 24 points in the half ( 11 points in the 3rd and 13 points in the 4th quarter).
While DeRozan did not Michael Jordan’s Bulls record of ten straight 35+ point games, he did prove to everyone that he is a great player. The Bulls have had numerous injuries throughout the season but through it, all DeRozan has kept the ship afloat and led them to the 1 seed in the East. While the loss bumped them to 2nd place in the East, the Bulls could easily be the 1 seed when the regular season ends.