Very little leaves Zach LaVine searching for words.
But there he was on Saturday, trying to best sum up what his teammate did on back-to-back nights.
“Dude is incredible,” LaVine said, and then started laughing. “I can’t say much more than that. … I thank God that we have DeMar DeRozan on our team.”
Indiana and Washington might have a little different take.
One that starts off with a head shake of disbelief, followed by a curse word, and DeRozan’s name somewhere attached to it.
Thanks to a second buzzer beater in as many nights by DeRozan, the Bulls have now won seven straight games and sit alone atop the Eastern Conference with a 24-10 record. As for DeRozan, he sits alone in fourth-quarter scoring around the league, and in cold-blooded heartbreak for the opposition.
“I seen two guys on me, I knew one would at least go for the pump-fake,” DeRozan recalled of his latest heroics with 3.3 seconds left on the clock on the inbounds. “After that I just wanted to make sure I got my feet behind the line and give it the chance to go in.”
Went in it did, delivering the Bulls to the 120-119 win, in a game they really had very little business being in.
“Just hungry, hungry to win,” DeRozan said, when asked what he was feeling after the latest miracle at the horn. “To be honest with you, just being in the locker room with guys and a coaching staff that make coming to work fun, motivating and exciting just to go out there and play.
“Every time I get the opportunity to go out there and play with these guys it’s a dream come true in a sense. Even though I’ve been in the league awhile, it’s that refreshed feeling that you have going out there to play basketball.”
He’s looked more than refreshed. DeRozan looked like a flat-out top three MVP candidate.
In beating Indiana in similar fashion a night earlier, DeRozan became the first player in league history to win games at the buzzer in back-to-back nights, and the first to do it in back-to-back games since Larry Bird in 1985. Bird had a day off between games.
The kicker in this latest win? Like the Pacers win, it was a game that the Bulls had some sleep-walking moments.
Defensive breakdowns remained an issue with too many miscommunications in pick-and-roll, and too many lethargic sets in which the Bulls simply got caught watching the ball rather than their man as possessions ticked down, leading to Washington attacking the rim with blow by after blow by.
That’s why the Wizards finished with 72 points in the paint to 30 by the Bulls.
Down 64-52 coming out of the halftime locker room, however, resiliency hasn’t been just coach-speak for the Bulls throughout this season, and that was on display once again in the third, as the switch was flipped. So was the scoreboard.
The defense was more focused, and Coby White again made an impact, as the Bulls outscored the Wizards by 10 in the third, led by White’s eight points and two assists.
That meant another nail-biter in the fourth, and more heroics by DeRozan, who has earned the nickname “King of the Fourth.”
The Wizards (18-18) grabbed the momentum on Kyle Kuzma’s three-pointer with 3.3 seconds left, putting them up two, but 3.3 seconds is a lifetime in DeRozan’s world. Evident by the fact that he checked his feet, pump-faked and still got the bucket.
“We don’t let nothing rattle us throughout the game and we just keep going,” DeRozan said. “I don’t know if I’m dreaming or if it’s real right now. Willing to step up whenever that moment is called for, and to be ready for it, that’s all can do.”