Chicago’s Zach LaVine dropped 29 points – 20 of which coming in the final frame – to lead the Bulls to a come-from-behind, road victory against a listing Brooklyn Nets team just hours after parting ways with head coach Steve Nash.
LaVine had just nine points on 4-of-11 from the field entering the fourth-quarter before exploding to drag his team to their fourth win of the season.
DeMar DeRozan, who last week became the 50th player in NBA history to join the 20,000-point club, finished with 20 points and four rebounds on 8-of-21 from the field whilst Nikola Vučević had seven points and 15 rebounds.
Second-year guard Ayo Dosunmu, who has gone from strength to strength starting in place of the injured Lonzo Ball, put up 17 points, four assists, three steals and a team-high plus-12 whilst veteran Goran Dragić, who spent time with Brooklyn last season, added 15 points on 4-of-6 from three off the bench.
Chicago closed the first-quarter with a short scoring spurt before Brooklyn took a six-point lead into halftime that grew to double-digits in the third-quarter.
Spurred by LaVine’s scoring outburst, Chicago outscored the Nets by 12 in the final frame as they secured just their fourth win from their past 16 against Brooklyn.
Chicago hit on 12 of their 30 three-point attempts and turned the ball over seven less times than Brooklyn to improve back to .500 on the year.
Kevin Durant led all scorers with 32 points to go along with nine rebounds, six assists and two blocks on 9-of-17 from the floor and 12-of-12 from the line.
Royce O’Neale dropped a career-high 20 points on 8-of-12 from the field and 4-of-6 from three whilst Nic Claxton had a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double on a perfect 4-of-4 from the floor.
Kyrie Irving, on the other hand, struggled mightily failing to scratch until the fourth quarter and finishing with just four points on 2-of-12 from the field and 0-of-6 from three.
Irving has found himself the centre of unwanted scrutiny over the past few days after sharing antisemitic content on his social media feeds and doubling down on his views in his postgame presser after Brooklyn’s 116-109 win over Indiana yesterday.
To add to Brooklyn’s woes, head coach Steve Nash was relieved of his duties less than seven hours prior to today’s tip-off with Jacque Vaughan taking over as interim coach.
The franchise is expected to introduce Ime Udoka, who was stood down this season by the Celtics for his involvement in an improper intimate relationship with a team staffer, as their next head coach in the coming days.
Following an offseason which saw Kevin Durant request a trade and demand Nash and general manager Sean Marks be fired, the Nets have started the season with just two wins from their first seven and have one of the league’s worst defences.
Seven of their next eight games are on the road – beginning in Washington on Saturday – as they desperately try to steady their season.
The Bulls, meanwhile, are back in Chicago tomorrow against the Hornets.
