As the biggest addition of their summer, the Chicago Bulls are likely hoping to get a vintage version of Andre Drummond during the upcoming season. While it’s highly unlikely we see the same version of Drummond that was selected to an All-NBA team and multiple All-Star games, he’ll still fill a valuable hole for this roster as Chicago’s most reliable threat on the glass.
It’s not like the Bulls would be soon to forget just what Drummond is capable of, as the two have had a heated rivalry over the years. In fact, Drummond has emerged victorious more often than not and is 18-17 in games against the Bulls over the course of his career.
Although he’s averaged 12.8 points and 13.3 rebounds in those 35 games against Chicago, there have been quite a few standout performances among the bunch. Let’s rewind the clock and revisit five times where Drummond took over and single-handedly dominated the Bulls.
The Chicago Bulls and Andre Drummond have many memories to reflect upon before they team up during the 2022-23 season.
Drummond’s big breakout
On April 11, 2014, Drummond put an exclamation mark at the end of his breakout sophomore campaign in a game against the Chicago Bulls. Although the Detroit Pistons were far removed from playoff contention, Drummond took a 48-34 Bulls team led by Jimmy Butler and Joakim Noah to the very brink.
Chicago came out the victors after a hard-fought 106-98 victory, but the 20-year-old Drummond made them work hard for it by posting 26 points, 26 rebounds, and 3 steals while proving he was going to be a force in the league for years to come.
Historic performance in the United Center
By putting up a ridiculous 33 points, 21 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks in a four-overtime battle against the Bulls, Drummond completed a feat only five other players had done in the last 30 years. It may have taken him 54 minutes to achieve that 30/20/3/2 stat line, but he’d make up for that by doing it again in 2018 against the Jazz and yet again in 2019 against the Pacers. No player other than Drummond has achieved that stat line since Dwight Howard in 2012, and Drummond has done it three times.
While he dominated statistically, Drummond would not emerge empty-handed this time. He propelled the thoroughly exhausted Pistons to a big win on the night of December 18, 2015, and demoralized every Bulls fan who stayed up late to see things through.
Drummond bests Bulls in back-to-back
In a pair of back-to-back games in early March of 2019, Drummond would once again strike fear into the hearts of Bulls fans by claiming two wins against the recently-promoted Jim Boylen-led Chicago roster. Drummond put up 36 points and 39 rebounds across these two games which ended up being crucial wins that helped elevate the Pistons to just their second playoff appearance in the last 13 years.
These wins were sparked by a late fourth quarter rally in the first game, as the Bulls no longer had Jimmy Butler around to be their late-game closer and looked hapless in his absence. In that fourth quarter alone, Drummond nearly achieved a double-double with 8 points and 9 rebounds while setting up teammate Blake Griffin to close things out with 16 points of his own.
Bulldozes Chicago during Pistons farewell tour
Although Detroit would decide to finally move on from Drummond upon the conclusion of the 2019-20 season, he’d still prove to be a significant obstacle for a rebuilding Bulls team to defeat. He’d score 25 points on 11-of-17 shooting and tack on an impressive 24 rebounds on top.
However, these Pistons were not of the same caliber as some of the teams in years past and would crumble en route to a miserable 20-46 record. Albeit, the Bulls were not much better and finished with a 22-43 record. Still, Chicago managed to overcome the Pistons not only on this night but would go on to ultimately sweep the season series and spell the end of the Drummond era in Detroit.
Fortunately, the Bulls no longer have to worry about Drummond being a difficult matchup on the schedule and can instead look forward to him becoming a big contributor in next year’s rotation.