"You have to believe in yourself when no one else will." -Sugar Ray Robinson
Basketball is the sweet science; at least the way it's practiced by DeMar DeRozan, who Monday continued his knockout run with 40 points in the Bulls 120-109 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
The victory with one game left before the All-Star break kept the Bulls a half game out of first in the East at 37-21, and this time with a sixth consecutive game scoring at least 35 points it wasn't Michael Jordan mentioned most in comparison but Wilt Chamberlain.
This is getting as ridiculous as it is remarkable.
In making 16 of 24 shots and thus six consecutive games shooting at least 50 percent with those 35-plus points, DeRozan joins only Chamberlain with such a streak. No, Jordan never did it. And no one, especially DeRozan, is suggesting he's the next or another Jordan.
But the 6-6 guard/forward who is a boxing enthusiast—he has sought guidance from Floyd Mayweather about how to set up and opponent and go the distance—is becoming like the legendary Robinson, something of the best pound for pound in the game. It how the great middleweight was known in the golden era of boxing.
And in this current golden era for the Bulls, it's been something like Robinson and LaMotta. The opponent keep coming, and DeRozan continues to dominate the game no matter the circumstances, the tactics or the stakes.
DeMar DeRozan scored 40 points in the victory over San Antonio.
History is difficult to identify in the present. But we are witnessing one of the great cycles in basketball history. Not only the way DeRozan is scoring and how efficiently, which has most amazed Bulls coach Billy Donovan, but even as his seconds continue to disappear, this time with Zach LaVine heading to California this week for a second opinion on his bothersome knee issues.
DeRozan certainly has significant support as, after all, this is not hand to hand combat. Nikola Vucevic continued his superior play inside with 25 points and 16 rebounds and Coby White, shooting more than 50 percent on threes the last six games, added 24 points with five of six threes.
And not that it was easy in a rematch with the Spurs, who defeated the Bulls last month. The Spurs, younger and quicker, repeatedly drove past the Bulls for layups, 70 points in the paint and still a two-point game with about three minutes left. But the Bulls finally made a few defensive plays off errant Spurs passes, and White had another late, clinching three. But it was the phlegmatic DeRozan with 19 fourth quarter points, making eight of nine shots, that gave the Bulls a lead they'd retain after the Spurs led 89-83 starting the fourth quarter.
DeRozan in another fourth quarter sequence in which White marveled that he didn't think a single shot touched anything but net scored 15 of the Bulls 19 points to start the quarter. He also had two of his team high seven assists in the fourth quarter and was eight of eight overall on free throws.
Sugar Ray fought in an era when Joe Louis drew the attention. They can run, but they can't hide, he famously said. So DeRozan plays at a time when the Most Valuable conversation mostly surrounds the heavyweights like LeBron, Jokic and Giannis. But it's difficult to see who is doing more for a team that is doing so well at a time so many are missing.
"I'm no knockout puncher, but I want to wear you down because I know I can go the length, however long I need to go," DeRozan said.
Tap to watch highlights from Chicago's Valentines Day win over the San Antonio Spurs.
The postgame discussion turned to boxing because DeRozan mentioned how much a fan he was of the sport long ago called the sweet science. Check out A.J. Liebling's famous book if you don't know anything but MMA.
Boxing once was the premier professional sport in the United States and perhaps the world. It evoked national pride like nothing else. It's practitioners were America's heroes. Hearing DeRozan talk about the way he sees basketball is like hearing the voices of boxing history talk about the science amidst that brutality.
"I'm a big boxing fan and one of my favorite boxers is Floyd (Mayweather, who was undefeated)," DeRozan explained. "I remember having a conversation with Floyd about how he approached fights, and for him it's about collecting data in the first couple of rounds, about what his opponent likes to do, how he can break him down. I always talk about the championship rounds when it comes to the seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th, when you kind of hear your opponent breathing a little bit harder, dropping the hands. That's the same approach I take with basketball, just picking ‘em apart, understanding how the defense is going to play me, the game flow. It's just me collecting so much data early in the game and trying to pick it apart as the game goes on."
That was DeRozan acknowledging missing five of his first six shots against the Spurs, though with Vucevic and White scoring, the Bulls led 29-27 after one. DeRozan got it going in the second quarter, including a crossover drive and dunk and then a fast break dunk in the midst of 10 straight of his 13 third quarter points that still kept the Bulls barely ahead at halftime 59-57. The Spurs with their youth and speed, and Doug McDermott with 19 points making seven of 11 shots, are a difficult opponent for these Bulls. Without Alex Caruso and Lonzo Ball, they mostly need to outscore you, and that's where DeRozan comes in. It became a game with 31 ties and lead changes until DeRozan turned the game around to start the fourth quarter and the Bulls had enough to get this one on points.
"When it comes to boxing and some of the greatest boxers, I always try to analyze how they approach it and for me I kind of do the same," DeRozan related.
Donovan often talks about the high IQ of his players, especially DeRozan. Following Monday's game, Donovan was rhapsodizing particularly about DeRozan's continuing efficiency, another 40-point game without even attempting a three pointer (no one else in the NBA has done that this season) and this stretch of 50 percent plus shooting as DeRozan in his 13th season continues with the highest scoring average of his career.
Tap to listen to postgame reaction from Billy Donovan after Chicago's Valentines Day win over the Spurs.
"To me, the thing that is so impressive is the efficiency," commended Donovan. "His shooting percentages are mind boggling. Not necessarily the number of points, it's the efficiency which he's scoring at because he's also getting teammates involved and generating assists and getting shots for other guys. He isn't jacking up shot after shot after shot to get his points. He's doing it at a high level and impacting our team in a positive way. Knowing how to get to free throw line, how to get to his spots, knowing when to pass it, how to generate an easy basket or a shot for someone else. He's not forcing anything.
"After a period of time (in the fourth quarter) they decided to trap him," Donovan pointed out. "He recognized it and got the ball out; he didn't try to dribble through the double team or do things that were going to put him in a situation to be turning the ball over. That speaks even more to his greatness, not ‘OK, I'm on this incredible roll.' But instead of trying to take on two guys, ‘OK, someone else is open. Let me find the open man.' And we find the next best option."
The coach and players generally tell us what happened and we pass it on. The secret is how it happened. So listen to DeRozan and what goes into making those shots.
That's what you call the sweet science of basketball.
"It's my concentration level," DeRozan started out. "When you miss a shot understanding why I missed the shot: Did I get enough lift? Was it short? Did it come off my hands wrong, my gather, my rhythm? So many things click in my mind when I miss a shot and understanding the next shot what I have to do. It's just me analyzing, me understanding my shots when I shoot ‘em.
"My first couple I was short, kind of rushed them," DeRozan said. "Then just kind of buckled down and got to my spots and treated it like I was in the gym by myself. I try to make a conscious effort of not going up there and just shooting shots. I analyzed myself early in my career when I scored. I used to shoot a lot, volume shooter (they said). I used to always wonder why I had that label, how you get that label and how you can get away from that label. (It's) understanding shot selection, what you work on, your rhythm and concentration. There's so much that goes into a play for me. When I'm in those moments, every shot I take is a shot I work on. I'm just not shooting to be just shooting it. I try to lock in every time it's time to score."
You won't get an anatomy of a basketball better than that.
You hear it all everywhere around Chicago, at least, these days. Didn't know how good DeRozan was. And so you mention him being in Toronto, where the games basically never were on American TV, and then the Raptors got to the late playoff rounds. But usually against LeBron, so they lost. Can't play in the big games. And then they trade DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard, and the Raptors win a title. And then DeRozan is in San Antonio and accepts a lesser role for the redeveloping team, and the Spurs record run of playoff appearances end. And then DeRozan signs with the Bulls and the national media declares the signing a disaster, a mistake.
"He's always a monster," says White. "He turns into a monster times two (late in games). No moment is too big for him, especially at the end of the game. He's so humble at the end of the games he's just happy we won. At the end of the games we have regular conversations about life. He don't even bring (the scoring) up. You know when certain dudes are on the court; you feel his presence. The media woke up a beast."
"Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even." -Muhammad Ali
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February 14, 2022 at 03:00PM
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DeMar DeRozan drops 40 on Spurs, discusses boxing mentality - Bulls.com
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