After a rocky start to the season following arthroscopic surgery on his left knee over the summer, Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine is finally starting to feel like himself again. The latest and most emphatic evidence for Chicago is LaVine’s better health, as he scored a season-high 43 points on 15-of-20 shooting on Friday night to lead the Bulls to a 132-118 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
Look at my last 10-15 games,” LaVine commented after the game. “I’ve been in a great mood.” LaVine has scored 25.2 points per game while shooting 53% from the field and 43.2% from the depth in 14 games played during the month of December.
LaVine has improved his scoring prowess from his first 17 games of the season as he averaged 20.9 points on 40.7% shooting and 34.8% on 3 respectively. LaVine missed the first two games of the season due to the team’s knee injury management strategy, and he missed three of the first six games due to the team’s decision to rest him on back-to-backs.
However, he hasn’t missed a game since Nov. 6 and has stated that he plans to play Cleveland, Chicago’s second back-to-back game, on Saturday. I want to get as much play time as possible every day,” LaVine said. Rest and recover and assess my condition on Saturday, but for now I feel very good.
In Friday’s game against the Pistons, LaVine never gave up driving to the basket, going 7-for-7 from the field and finishing the game with a powerful alley-oop dunk. He also went to the line for free throws eight times, making all eight. DeMar DeRozana forward for the Bulls who scored 22 points on Friday said, “That’s the Zach we all know.”
“He came out and we started right away. He laid the groundwork for the rest of the game. He maintained an attacking stance, made his shots and pushed the pace downhill.
One of the bright spots for the Bulls is LaVine’s return to elite-level scoring around the rim this month, with his 79.5% shooting in the restricted area over the first two weeks of December, his highest in a calendar month since joining the Bulls came. . This is a significant increase from its 58.8% shootings in the restricted area in October and November.
Zach LaVine = professional bucket catcher
43 points | 15-20 VG | 5-9 3PT | 6 assists pic.twitter.com/KzEJ9okdX9
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) December 31, 2022
I give him a lot of credit for staying with the process and continuing to work, said Bulls head coach Billy Donovan. “When you’re as talented as he is offensively, it’s a mystery to see you struggling so early in the season. He put in a lot of effort to keep his focus.”
It was DeRozan’s third 40-point game of the season on Wednesday night against the Milwaukee bucks, and LaVine’s second 40-point effort of the season. According to research from ESPN Stats & Information, LaVine and DeRozan are the only teammates to play multiple 40-point games each. Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland of Cleveland.
The Bulls have won five of their last six games and despite a 16-19 record, they currently occupy the last play-in spot in the Eastern Conference, thanks in large part to the efforts of their team’s stars.
A “one of us can go play a game like this” is something that can happen on any given night, according to LaVine. “Not something you want to rely on, and we are good at going attacking every game. Defensively, I believe we will be successful if we are all in sync and focused.”
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