Chicago Bulls: Zach LaVine is going nuclear at the right time

Heating up at the right time is the name of the game for the Chicago Bulls electric shooting guard Zach LaVine this month.

Right when the Chicago Bulls needed it the most, they are getting very solid play out of their best player. The Bulls saw the 6-foot-6 and 181 pound 24-year-old shooting guard Zach LaVine come up with yet another All-Star caliber performance in their Jan. 18 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in thrilling fashion, by the final score of 118-116.

Pretty much the sole reason for the Bulls coming up with a huge second half push to get the win over the Central Division foe Cavaliers was the outburst of LaVine. He posted 42 point by the time it was all said and done on Saturday night. That now brings his scoring mark up to exactly 25.0 points per game more than halfway into the 2019-20 regular season.

LaVine is one of the hottest scorers in the Eastern Conference during the month of January. And the Bulls need him to keep up this torrid scoring pace both if they want any player to represent them in the 2020 NBA All-Star Game and if they want any shot at staying in the playoff picture in the East.

Notable too is the fact that LaVine is continually shaking off the notion that he is nothing but a stat-sheet stuffer. He is doing more to help the Bulls win games in clutch time, and his scoring is going to another level this season.

All-around, LaVine is now averaging 25.0 points per game, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.0 assists, while shooting 44.6 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from three-point range. LaVine’s field goal percentage is now up to the exact mark he sits at for his entire NBA career and his three-point shooting percentage is nearly two points higher.

LaVine is also registering a career-best 1.4 steals per game, and he is on pace for a career-high in win shares (3.4 at the moment) and player efficiency rating (20.0). Nearly every part of LaVine’s advanced numbers are proving that his play is getting much better too.

He is on pace to post a career-high in box plus/minus rating (2.0) and value over replacement player rating (1.5). The number of win shares per 48 minutes that he has at the moment (.110) is nearly double what he had last season.

The increased usage rate that LaVine is getting this season (career-high 31.4 percent) shows that he’s making the most of his increased role on the Bulls offense. The way he’s playing since the turn of the calendar year should definitely earn him at least a reserve spot on the All-Star roster for the East squad.

LaVine has yet to score less than 20 points in any individual game this month, and he’s scored at least 42 on two occasions. And we’re barely halfway through this difficult January schedule that’s facing the 16-28 Bulls.

Six times this month LaVine has scored at least 30 points. This is a scoring pace that very few players can match in the NBA during the month of January. He has the most total points of any player in the NBA this month, eclipsing the Phoenix Suns star shooting guard Devin Booker by 19 points.

The Bulls head into a difficult matchup against the divisional foe Milwaukee Bucks on Jan. 20 looking for their second win over a team with a winning record this season. But that is a tall task for a team that is just rolling off the production of LaVine and power forward Lauri Markkanen.

Sitting around four games behind the Brooklyn Nets for the final spot in the East’s playoff picture, the Bulls do still have a shot to claw their way back into it. But this January slate is not going to do them any favors. LaVine would need to continue this incredible scoring stretch for the Bulls to keep getting on the right side of the win column.