A win over the Toronto Raptors on the road on the night of Oct. 25 helped to keep the Chicago Bulls undefeated through four games this season. In fact, second-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Bulls are 4-0 to start off the regular season for the first time since the 1996-97 season. And the undefeated start for the Bulls this season is largely thanks to the efforts of star shooting guard Zach LaVine.
LaVine had another solid outing in this win over the Raptors on the road on the night of Oct. 25, which came by the narrow final score of 111-108. But there was a flaw that emerged in his game late. LaVine had a couple of untimely plays late in this game that led to costly turnovers.
One of them saw standout Raptors point guard Fred VanFleet get a turnover off of LaVine that would lead to Toronto coming closer to tying this game up late in the fourth quarter. LaVine just lost the handle as he was trying to dribble the ball between his legs going up the floor.
LaVine also missed a key two-point basket late in this game that would’ve helped the Bulls close out the win sooner potentially.
With how close this game was in the latter stages between the Bulls and Raptors, you’d like to see LaVine closing out the win. LaVine is still the go-to scorer out of the gates this season for the Bulls, despite all of the other high-profile additions the front office made since the trade deadline last season.
Chicago Bulls still need to see more from Zach LaVine in clutch time
But it was star shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan that was mostly responsible for the Bulls avoiding complete collapse in this game. In his return to Toronto, DeRozan scored 11 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter to help the Bulls escape with a narrow three-point win over the Raps.
The Bulls once held a 20-point lead in the third quarter, only to see it evaporate down the stretch in the fourth. LaVine started to heat up in the third quarter, but his efficiency came and went in the final minutes of the game.
This is where LaVine can learn from someone like DeRozan, who can turn to his bread and butter on offense in a composed fashion to close out games. DeRozan turned to his mid-range game to heat up down the stretch and help the Bulls hang onto this win over the Raps.
Meanwhile, LaVine started to get away from his usual offensive specialties (i.e. shooting from beyond the arc and using his quickness to get to the rim) late. LaVine was trying to do to much and didn’t let the offense flow as it was earlier in the third quarter when the Bulls found more success.
This is something that will take time for LaVine to learn to close out games. And the good news is that he still hit a tough three-pointer late in the fourth quarter that was a key part of helping the Bulls come away with this win in the end.
All in all, LaVine still had a good game in this win over the Raptors. He finished up with 22 points, four rebounds, five assists, one steal, no blocks, and two turnovers. And LaVine shot 7-of-16 from the field, 3-of-7 from beyond the arc, and was perfect on five attempts from the free-throw line.
This was good for LaVine to register a solid game score north of 16. That’s a good night by pretty much any standard.
Following this win over the Raptors, the Bulls are the lone remaining undefeated team in the Eastern Conference, sporting a perfect 4-0 record. Next up for LaVine and the Bulls is a meeting with the New York Knicks at home at the United Center on Oct. 28, with tip-off time set for 7 p.m. CT.