Chicago Bulls: Ranking DeMar DeRozan’s top performances in 4th quarter

2. New Years Day Record Breaker

The NBA is one of the most dramatic shows on television. What’s more thrilling than a buzzer-beating win?  Perhaps doing it on New Year’s Eve, with families together with liquid courage watching?

What’s better than that? Giving an encore.

DeRozan provided all the theatrics in Chicago’s back-to-back wins on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. On Jan. 1, he became the only player in NBA history with a game-winning buzzer-beater on consecutive days.

It all started New Year’s Eve against the Indiana Pacers. The Bulls were in a back-and-forth contest with a Pacers team still trying to hold it together through a COVID-19 outbreak. They were without four key rotation players in the game but somehow managed to go toe-to-toe with a Bulls team that was the top seed in the east at the time.

The Bulls were down one with possession and the shot clock turned off. DeRozan had the ball in the middle and didn’t even look to pass. He dribbled the time down and hit a one-legged horse-style three to win the game at the buzzer.

It was only the second game-winning buzzer-beater of DeRozan’s career and the first by a Bulls player since Jimmy Butler in December of 2016.

The magic wasn’t over. While the calendar flipped to 2022, DeRozan had the same energy against the Washington Wizards on New Year’s Day.

On the second leg of a back-to-back, Chicago found themselves down one against the Wizards on the road. With ball on the sideline, the Bulls inbounded to DeRozan off of a curl with three seconds left. He drove to the corner, pump faked, and drilled the three to win the game. He finished with 28 points, nine rebounds, and five assists on 45% shooting from the field.

The shots tied the team’s single-season record for buzzer-beaters, including the playoffs, sharing the mark with Michael Jordan and Toni Kukoc. DeRozan is now the only Bull with multiple regular-season buzzer-beaters.