DeMar DeRozan had a typical fourth quarter performance Sunday night in Chicago, but this time he beat the Bulls instead of helping them win, writes Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. Playing at the United Center for the first time since being traded to the Kings in July, he scored nine of his 21 points in the final 12 minutes as Sacramento pulled out a five-point victory.
DeRozan punctuated his final three made shots with a stare and a few comments directed at the Bulls’ bench, but he said there are no hard feelings and he enjoyed the three years he spent with the team.
“The first moment I came here, I tried to give my all to this organization, to this city. And I think it showed,” he said. “You can’t fake it when you’re genuinely putting everything into representing the Bulls. I embodied the culture of Chicago, everything. I think when people see that, you get the genuine reaction in return.”
DeRozan received a warm reception from the Chicago crowd, which cheered him in pre-game introductions and again when a tribute video was played during a first quarter time out. After the game, Bulls players spoke about the difference DeRozan made for the franchise.
“A guy like that always leaves a big impact, more so for the kind of guy he is, how he carries himself,” Nikola Vucevic said. “You always respect people like that. It was great for everyone to have him here for all these years, but especially for the young guys, they were able to learn a lot from him about the game, how to carry yourself on and off the court, what to do and how to prepare, the mental aspect, a lot of things that we can all learn from him and carry on throughout the rest of our careers.”
There’s m0re from the Pacific Division:
- The Kings picked up their seventh straight win on Sunday as they continue to benefit from the simplified offense Doug Christie installed when he replaced Mike Brown as head coach, observes Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento had just seven turnovers and allowed three points off of them. “(Christie is) calling basically three or four plays,” Domantas Sabonis explained. “One for DeMar, one for Foxy (De’Aaron Fox) and one for me. He’s trusting his main guys to create the advantage and then everyone plays off that.”
- The counseling that Draymond Green received during last season’s indefinite suspension has helped him learn how to control his anger, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Green also confirms that he contemplated retirement last season, but that’s no longer in his plans. “He’s always been so passionate,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “And when he goes wrong and his passion gets away from him, it turns into anger. … He’s in a good place family-wise; he’s a great dad. He loves his kids. He recognized last year how much his actions impacted his young kids. He doesn’t want his kids seeing him in that light. And it’s easy for everybody on the outside to say, well then don’t do that stuff. But he is a force of nature and as competitive as any person I’ve ever seen. His game lives on the edge of passion and rage, and he has to find that balance. And he’s found it this year.”
- The Clippers have to put aside a major distraction to concentrate on tonight’s game with Miami, per Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. Many of the players and coaches were directly affected by the massive wildfires that hit Los Angeles and the surrounding area last week. “At the end, we’re pros,” Nicolas Batum said Sunday. “We have a game to play. We have to win so we have to get back to it. We had two great practices the last two days. Basketball-side, we lost four of the last five so we need a win tomorrow. We got a stretch at home that we need to take care of so it’s going to be a big one against Miami tomorrow so we got to focus on that and try to win the game.”