Bulls guard Zach LaVine makes an early return, and a much needed one

It wasn’t exactly Zach LaVine: “All-Star.”

It was more like Zach LaVine: “Good enough.”

The Bulls guard finished with 23 points, but did it on 6-for-19 from the field and 3-for-10 from three-point range Monday night in Oklahoma City, and did have the worst plus/minus of the starting group with a minus-4.

But he also grabbed seven rebounds, handed out seven assists, and nabbed two steals.

Further evidence of his growth and understanding of making winning basketball plays that don’t involve LaVine playing the role of leading scorer.

The real highlight of his night? That he even had one.

LaVine hadn’t played since Jan. 14, when he left after 3:32 of the Golden State game with soreness in his left knee. Yes, the same knee that betrayed him back in 2017, when he had to have surgery to repair his anterior cruciate ligament.

As of the weekend, LaVine was expected to miss the entire three-game road trip, and maybe make his return on Wednesday, with the Bulls hosting Toronto at the United Center. Watching his teammates lose in Milwaukee and then Orlando, however, didn’t sit well with him.

“I just didn’t want to wait any longer,” LaVine said. “About as healthy as my knee is going to get. Obviously, nothing structurally wrong. I got tired of watching the games. I decided I’m going to come out here and do what I can to help us win.

“Sucks sitting at home not being able to help and tried to come back as quick as I could. I try to play through a lot. Playing through it because it’s a big time season for all of us.”

While there was nothing structurally wrong with LaVine’s knee this time, he did admit that he was dealing with swelling and a bone bruise for about a month before pulling down a rebound against the Warriors and feeling discomfort at a different level.

“When I went up and grabbed that rebound, it just didn’t feel right when I landed,” LaVine said. “Luckily, it was nothing structural. But I don’t like messing around with knee injuries, especially on my left side. Just gave it some time to rest. I didn’t want to keep playing through it because obviously something bad could happen if you keep playing with that.”

Flying to Oklahoma City with forward Javonte Green while the Magic loss was going on ended up being big for another reason. It allowed coach Billy Donovan to sit MVP-candidate DeMar DeRozan and get him a much-needed rest.

The 32-year-old veteran had averaged just over 36 minutes per game in the five contests leading up to the Thunder game, and Donovan was not thrilled with the workload he was putting on DeRozan’s shoulders, especially what was still to come for the Bulls as they try and get to the All-Star Break.

They still have 13 games left before All-Star Weekend, and that included three more back-to-backs.

Plus, with some minor slippage in the standings because of all the injuries, LaVine was well aware that this part of the schedule was key. At least on paper, the Bulls have very winnable games the next few weeks, taking on Toronto, San Antonio, the Blazers, an Orlando rematch, Toronto once again, and then Indiana.

Of those six games, the Raptors have the best record at 22-22 as of Tuesday.

DeRozan will be back to take on his former franchise, and it will be the first time he and LaVine have played together in six games.

Expect more than “good enough.”

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