Basketball: DeMar DeRozan, Bulls end Nets’ win streak

CHICAGO – DeMar DeRozan scored 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter on Wednesday night, hitting three big shots down the stretch as “attention to detail” helped hosts Chicago Bulls to a 121-112 National Basketball Association victory over the Brooklyn Nets.

DeRozan was four-of-14 entering the fourth quarter and finished eight-of-20 overall to help the Bulls fend off several Brooklyn comeback tries as their 12-game winning streak ended.

After his jumper opened a 104-95 lead with 7min 31sec remaining, he expanded the lead to 115-102 on consecutive possessions when he hit a 17-footer over Nic Claxton with 4:26 and a 19-footer over Royce O’Neale 33 seconds later.

After DeRozan’s lay-up made it 117-105, Seth Curry hit a three-pointer and Kyrie Irving made a lay-up with 2:45 remaining.

“To come out here after those two tough losses and beat one of the hottest teams in the NBA, it’s good,” Bulls guard Zach LaVine was quoted by ESPN as saying.

“I think we came out with the right attention to detail. We withstood their run at the end, and we beat them collectively.

“Because you know if you don’t come in here and you don’t have your A-game, you’re going to get blown out.

“I think that’s the difference in our record. We come out here with the same attention to detail like we’ve all talked about I think that will flip around a lot of things.”

With 87sec left, Irving stole the ball from Nikola Vucevic but O’Neale missed an open three with 1:14 left.

Kevin Durant’s dunk got the lead down to 119-112 with 53 seconds remaining but DeRozan iced the game by hitting two free throws.

Patrick Williams scored a season-high 22 points and Vucevic collected 21 and 13 rebounds as Chicago won for the sixth time in nine games.

Ayo Dosunmu contributed 17 and LaVine finished with 13 as the Bulls shot 53.1 per cent.

Durant praised the Bulls’ “three elite scorers, from all angles of the floor” in DeRozan, LaVine and Vucevic.

He told ESPN: “I felt like a lot of times we chased them a bit, and that was just consistent throughout the whole game, us just playing from behind.

“I think we definitely put our foot on the gas in spurts... but they made shots. They’re talented players, special players. When you’ve got your whole five in double figures, it’s tough to stop that.”

Despite Durant’s 44-point showing and third 40-point game this season, the Nets took their first loss since falling at home to Boston on Dec 4. Irving added 25 and Curry contributed 22 off the bench as Brooklyn shot 46.2 per cent.

Williams scored 12 points as the Bulls shot a blistering 73.9 per cent (17-of-23) and held a 40-33 lead after the opening quarter.

Chicago used a 13-2 run to open a 64-48 advantage on Goran Dragic’s lead but Durant scored Brooklyn’s final 13 points of the half to get the visitors to within 69-59 by half-time.

Dosunmu’s tip-in put Chicago ahead 81-72 midway through the third quarter. But the Bulls continued to let the Nets hang around and settled for an 88-85 lead after Durant made three free throws with 1.6sec left in the quarter.

Meanwhile, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s triple-double sparked the Milwaukee Bucks to a 104-101 overtime victory at Toronto on Wednesday.

The Greek scored 30 points, pulled down 21 rebounds and made 10 assists, the last to set up Grayson Allen’s decisive three with 11sec that rescued a Milwaukee triumph against the Raptors.

“You can’t do it by yourself. You’ve got to trust your teammates, make plays for them,” said Antetokounmpo, who racked up his 31st career triple-double.

“I’m trying to be aggressive... but at the end of the day, everybody is sucking me in and the guy is open.

“That last play Grayson was wide open and I was able to get him the ball.” REUTERS, AFP