DeMar DeRozan loses track of time in the final seconds — but hits the buzzer-beater anyway to lift the Chicago Bulls to a 108-106 win and extend the team’s win streak to 6

In the last eight seconds of the Chicago Bulls’ final game of 2021, DeMar DeRozan forgot to look up at the clock.

The final minutes of the game Friday were a frenzied blur as the Bulls and Indiana Pacers threw bodies at the rim and onto the court in a feverish attempt to gain the upper hand. But with the Bulls trailing and the ball in his hands, DeRozan decided to slow things down for one final chance.

Acting coach Chris Fleming considered calling a timeout as DeRozan jogged the ball up the court, but he trusted the Bulls’ undisputed king of the fourth quarter. He panicked moments later when DeRozan pulled up languidly at the logo.

DeRozan’s eyes finally flicked up to the clock as it flashed down to :02. At that point, he was stuck — his teammates were rotated out of position, watching anxiously as DeRozan played patiently with time he simply didn’t have.

DeRozan did the only thing he could — tossing up a 3-pointer off one leg with a defender’s hand trailing into his face, then grinning in disbelief as the ball tore through the net to win the game 108-106.

Moments later, engulfed by a swarm of teammates roping him onto the court at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, DeRozan raised both fists above his head as he added another tome to the mythology of his fourth-quarter dominance.

“By the time I looked up at the clock, I said, ‘I’ve got to make something happen,’” he said. “As soon as it left my hand, it felt good.”

DeRozan’s heroics cemented the sixth-straight win for the Bulls, who rocketed into the top spot in the Eastern Conference over the Brooklyn Nets with the victory. DeRozan finished with a game-high 28 points.

The buzzer-beater also blanketed a sloppy end to the calendar year for the Bulls, who struggled to protect the glass and the ball in their fourth and final meeting of the season with the Indiana Pacers.

Often undersized with only Nikola Vučević at center, the Bulls have struggled with rebounding this season.

The Pacers exploited their size advantage with two 6-foot-11 players in Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis, who hammered the rim to give the Pacers second — and third and fourth — opportunities. The Bulls were out-rebounded 55-42 as the Pacers pulled down 17 boards on the offensive end to bully the Bulls in the paint.

The lack of physical presence around the rim was punctuated by poor shooting from both teams, who opened the game shooting below 37% in the first quarter. The Bulls finished the game 40.7% from the field.

Amid this haphazard shooting, Coby White provided a much-needed lift from behind the arc. White stepped into the starting lineup when with Lonzo Ball was sidelined because of COVID-19 protocols, growing into the week’s slate of games.

White hit six of his seven attempts from 3-point range against the Pacers, bringing a pop to the offense from long range to supply 24 points.

“Take away Coby from this game, we don’t win,” DeRozan said. “He had some big time threes when we needed it. When we couldn’t get it offensively going, he kept going, kept getting us over the hump. ... He played extremely confident. Without him, we don’t win this game.”

The result was an ugly, but important, win for the Bulls highlighted by another DeRozan star moment.

In his 13-year NBA career, DeRozan has hit his fair share of game-winning shots. But at the end of a difficult game and a challenging month for the Bulls, DeRozan said the buzzer beater — which guard Zach LaVine affectionately dubbed the “New Year’s Eve Heave” on Twitter after the game — will go down as one of his personal favorites.

“You’ve got to rank it up there because it was one of those games where nothing was going our way,” DeRozan said. “It felt like we was getting beat up, it was one of those physical games. We didn’t play our best offensively, it felt like we couldn’t buy a rebound. You’ve got to put it up there because we (ground) it out and won it on a big shot.”