DeMar DeRozan, short-handed Chicago Bulls hand Brooklyn Nets ‘bad, tough loss’

With DeMar DeRozan drawing James Harden and Kevin Durant with him on a drive into the paint, Lonzo Ball was all alone on the right wing as he launched a 3, crouched in anticipation and then turned toward courtside to the fans behind him after drilling a late dagger versus the Brooklyn Nets.

Down four rotation players due to health and injuries, the Chicago Bulls kept their surprising start to the season by erasing an 11-point third-quarter deficit to give the Nets a stinging 111-107 loss at Barclays Center on Saturday night.

The Bulls (16-8) have won three consecutive games and leave New York having beaten the Knicks at Madison Square Garden and the Nets at Barclays Center on this road trip. This is the second time that the Bulls outplayed the preseason favorite to win the Eastern Conference in the fourth quarter to hand the Nets a bitter loss, clinching the season series between the teams.

“You want to be the best, you got to beat the best,” said DeRozan, who picked the Nets apart with 13 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter. “Everybody talks about being best, but you got to go out there. No matter if you are short-handed, you want to be the best, you got to go out there and compete against the best.”

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The Bulls entered the game with Javonte Green and Coby White in health and safety protocols after testing positive for COVID-19. With Patrick Williams (left wrist) already out, the Bulls started Alex Caruso at power forward, but he was later ruled out due to a hamstring injury that was bothering him entering the game. Bulls coach Billy Donovan stated it was a medical decision to pull Caruso and that he did not know how long he might be sidelined.

The Nets (16-7) looked at this game as a big test for them.

They were short-handed themselves, with Joe Harris (ankle) and James Johnson (shoulder) out to go along with Kyrie Irving, who is not with the team. They were looking to settle a score after losing 118-95 in Chicago on Nov. 8 and get a quality victory over one of the top teams in the conference.

Brooklyn led 71-60 with 6:34 left in the third and appeared to be in control. But that cushion was gone by the 9:28 mark in the fourth. Durant scored nine of his 28 points in the fourth quarter, but Harden struggled with his shot, missing 5 of 6 attempts in the fourth. The Nets defense allowed the Bulls to shoot 52.2% in the fourth quarter. Chicago also enjoyed a 27-9 advantage in free throw attempts for the game.

“We just gotta go out there and play with some force and confidence, like we want to win,” Durant said. “And understand it’s a long game and just stick with the game plan. It’s a bad, it’s a tough loss. … We didn’t take advantage of being up nine, 10 points. We just let them stay in the game, and we were supposed to just bury them.”

Harden, who recently admitted he is having difficulty finding balance between being more of a playmaker versus when to be a scorer with Irving not playing, shot 5-of-21 overall while finishing with 14 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds.

Durant said he should have helped Harden more by making more shots.

“That would’ve took pressure off of him,” Durant said.

At the end, the Nets watched another struggling shooter make the game’s biggest shot. After Durant cut the deficit to 107-105 with a 3-pointer, DeRozan drove and drew Harden and Durant with him in the paint. DeRozan found Ball alone on the right wing, and the point guard delivered the dagger 3, just his second of the game. Ball finished 3-for-10 overall and 2-for-7 from behind the arc.

Ball — who had eight points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three blocks versus the Nets — also missed 8 of 10 3-point shots in Thursday’s triumph over the Knicks. But the Bulls continue to develop chemistry and trust in one another as they moved to within a half-game of the Nets for the lead in the East.