In a season filled with more lows than highs, the Chicago Bulls must now hurdle another roadblock on their way back to the NBA Playoffs—an injury to star wingman DeMar DeRozan. The soon-to-be six-time All-Star went out late in the fourth quarter of a 100-91 loss to the Orlando Magic as a hip injury that sidelined him from a game earlier this month flared up.
“It’s been bad,” DeRozan said. “I’m never been one to complain or make any type of excuses. It’s just been something I’ve been dealing with for awhile.”
Fourth loss in a row
DeRozan hasn’t been himself of late, and now it’s clear why. A 25-a-night scorer this season, the Compton native has cleared the 20-point barrier just once in his last five games and is averaging 18.2 points in February. With the Bulls down nine with 62 seconds to go in the game, DeRozan decided it was best to exit and have his hip checked out right away.
“It was bothering me the whole game,” DeRozan said. “I just felt it. I didn’t want to risk hurting it anymore. It’s just the accumulation of what it’s been.”
DeMarvelous.@DeMar_DeRozan | @NBCSChicago pic.twitter.com/J2gXhKurpZ
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) February 14, 2023
The veteran wingman was optimistic that this issue would not prevent him from suiting up in their next two games before the All-Star break. With the team now at 26-31, the Bulls need DeRozan at his best if they want to make a legitimate push for one of the East’s playoff seeds.
“I’m going to figure it out,” DeRozan said. “Just dealing with this whole leg situation. It’s just been tough to get explosion on a lot of my shots, just dealing with the discomfort and the pain. Ain’t no excuse for me. I’m going to figure it out one way or another. It’s going to come.”
Sour shooting
At this point in the season, the only sure things in life are death, taxes, and the Bulls’ awful shooting. They missed their first 16 three-point attempts and finished the game 3-of-21 for a horrendous 14% shooting clip. According to Bulls coach Billy Donovan, the team’s sour shooting led to some poor decisions that buried the team further.
“I think it’s just normal instinct — let’s just drive the ball in there, let’s drive it to the basket,” Donovan said. “What happened is two times we had charges and a few times we had spray-outs that weren’t there, that weren’t open, that we turned the ball over.”
Lots of passed up opportunities on open looks for 3 tonight that led to turnovers and grenades. Just a few I cherry picked here
Billy Donovan on how that affected the rest of the offense: pic.twitter.com/MYErOwAYI3
— Will Gottlieb (@Will_Gottlieb) February 14, 2023
The Bulls will try to snap their losing slump in Indiana on Wednesday when they visit the Pacers.
