DeMar DeRozan makes history with 2nd straight buzzer-beating 3-pointer, giving Bulls a 120-119 win over Wizards

DeMar DeRozan is the ultimate equalizer for the Chicago Bulls.

It doesn’t matter if the Bulls are shooting poorly or being bullied in the paint. It doesn’t matter if they trailed by double digits for most of a game. It doesn’t matter if it was the fifth game of the week with only 3.3 seconds left on the clock and two Washington Wizards players pinning DeRozan down into the corner with their hands thrown haphazardly in his face.

DeRozan cleaned up another ugly road game Saturday, opening the new year the same way he closed the last — with a last-gasp, buzzer-beating 3-pointer to beat the Wizards, 120-119, and punctuate the Bulls’ seventh straight win as they battle for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

After his “New Year’s Eve Heave” on Friday against the Pacers in Indianapolis, DeRozan is the first player in NBA history to hit game-winning buzzer-beaters on back-to-back nights.

The Bulls are 11-6 this season in games in which they trailed by five points in the final five minutes. Their efficiency in the close-game moments is fueled by DeRozan’s fourth-quarter resurgence, which continues to grow with each comeback win.

“I don’t know if I’m dreaming, if it’s real right now,” DeRozan said. “You might have games where you miss some but (being) willing to step up whenever that moment is called for and be ready for it, that’s all you can do. And when it happens, it happens.”

Despite the triumphant finish, the Bulls’ chances seemed bleak for most of the night. The Wizards annoyed the Bulls throughout the game, targeting weaknesses in the team’s lack of size and loss of key defenders Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso. Without their characteristic defensive sharpness, the Bulls didn’t score a single fast-break point against the Wizards.

Tyler Cook collapsed in a heap after spraining his left ankle in the second quarter, leaving the court in a wheelchair to slim down the Bulls’ already beleaguered bench. The loss of the 6-foot-8 power forward cleared space for the Wizards to bully the rim, outscoring the Bulls 72-30 in the paint.

Only four Bulls players scored in the first half — DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Coby White and Nikola Vučević. Without any bench production, the starters carried the offensive load — cutting a 13-point lead to three only to commit consecutive turnovers, allowing the Wizards to grind back to a 12-point lead at the half.

The Bulls were pulled apart by a familiar face as 2019 draft pick Daniel Gafford scored 19 points against his former team. The majority of the Wizards offense rested on Bradley Beal, who scored 27 points and racked up a career-high 17 assists to lead his short-handed team.

Despite the early deficit, the Bulls found a steady rhythm and chipped away at the lead in the second half.

“Sometimes we always hung around, we didn’t let that blowout happen,” acting coach Chris Fleming said. “It felt like they were beating us by 25, but the guys just hung in there.”

A balanced performance from Bulls starters led the second-half effort. Vučević took a full quarter to warm up his shooting rhythm, but the center finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds, his 17th double-double of the season. LaVine resumed his familiar role as the team’s Atlas, scoring a game-high 35 points.

White recorded his fourth straight double-digit game, finishing with 20 points, five assists and a steal.

After cutting their deficit to two points entering the fourth quarter, the Bulls traded leads with the Wizards in a breathless race to the final buzzer. DeRozan scored nine of his 28 points in the final quarter to cement the comeback win.

“It’s just how resilient we are,” LaVine said. “We didn’t play very good games, we didn’t play a full game in Indiana or tonight. Those guys tonight were really getting downhill. They had so many points in the paint — I don’t even know how many — and it was tough for us to stop them on defense. ...

“But I think we just played through a lot of stuff. We don’t hang our heads. We might complain just like everybody else but we move on to the next play and try to figure out how to get it back as a collective unit.”

Like every other game in the NBA over the last month, the win was tainted by the uncertainty created by a leaguewide COVID-19 outbreak spurred by the omicron variant. Eight Wizards players, including star center Montrezl Harrell, missed the game because they were in the league’s health and safety protocols.

Two Bulls players were out due to the protocols, although the absences of Ball and Caruso left the team lagging in perimeter defense throughout the last week. Despite the COVID-19 absences, the winning streak reinvigorated the Bulls after their outbreak in December as they near the midway point of the season.

And the game served as another notch on a growing list of late-game accolades for DeRozan, who has earned a new moniker in Chicago: “The King of the Fourth.”

“The dude’s incredible. I can’t say much more than that,” LaVine said. “We were close enough to find a way to win. Thank God we’ve got DeMar DeRozan on our team.”