DeMar DeRozan continued his personal tear with 38 points to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 106-101 victory over the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night.
DeRozan matched a franchise record set by legendary Michael Jordan with his fifth straight game of 35 or more points. Jordan established the mark with five consecutive such outings early in the 1996-97 season.
Nikola Vucevic contributed 31 points and 15 rebounds as the Bulls won their third consecutive game. Coby White registered 16 points and nine rebounds, and Ayo Dosunmu added 12 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.
Luguentz Dort scored 31 points for Oklahoma City, which lost its fifth consecutive game. Darius Bazley added 17 points and eight rebounds, Kenrich Williams tallied 12 points and Josh Giddey had 11 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for the Thunder.
DeRozan swished an 18-footer with 1:42 remaining to give the Bulls a 101-95 lead and tie Jordan’s mark with his 35th and 36th points.
White buried a 3-pointer to make it 104-97 with 1:10 left, but Oklahoma City later pulled within three. DeRozan then hit two free throws with 8.4 seconds left to seal it.
Bulls star Zach LaVine was held out of the second part of a back-to-back. Coach Billy Donovan said after Friday’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves that LaVine is bothered by knee and back injuries.
Chicago shot 44.9 percent from the field, including 7 of 25 from 3-point range. The Bulls owned a 57-43 rebounding advantage.
The Thunder connected on 38.6 percent of their shots and were 11 of 36 from behind the arc.
Back-to-back dunks by Dosunmu and Derrick Jones Jr. gave the Bulls an 89-86 lead with 6:49 remaining.
DeRozan went over the 30-point mark for the sixth straight game when he got the bounce on a jumper to give Chicago a 94-90 advantage with 4:56 left.
Vucevic slammed in a dunk to make it 97-90 with 3:19 remaining.
Oklahoma City led by 14 late in the first half before the Bulls scored the final 10 points to trail 54-50. DeRozan scored 19 points in the half.
Chicago used a 7-0 burst to move ahead 72-70 on Vucevic’s basket with 3:42 left in the third quarter.
DeRozan made two free throws with 11.5 seconds to give the Bulls an 81-80 edge entering the final stanza.
–Field Level Media
