An Important Announcement (Pt. 4)

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During a game in which they trailed by as many as 19 points in the second half on the road against the most successful basketball franchise in the history of the NBA (Boston's 17 titles are the most in league history), the Chicago Bulls dug deep and erupted for a massive victory to move to 6-0* on the season. DeMar DeRozan (37 points on 75% shooting) and Zach LaVine (26 points) paced the Bulls, who outscored the Celtics 39 to 11 in the fourth quarter to seize a big-time win against a legitimate opponent. This win comes on the heels of a dominant eight-point win against the previously-undefeated (and #1 in the ESPN power-rankings) Utah Jazz. By my math, this means the Bulls are indisputably the top team in the NBA.

Things got very dismal toward the end of the third quarter when the Celtics jetted out to a 94-75 advantage, but I refrained from writing this article until after the game concluded (about five minutes ago). As you probably know from reading my previous articles in this series, I want to be anything but impulsive when it comes to describing this Bulls team's season.

Back to business: I don't think it's too extreme to say this year's iteration of the Bulls is probably the greatest assembly of talent the NBA has ever seen. DeRozan and LaVine are phenomenally-talented scorers. Lonzo Ball is a tremendous glue guy. Nikola Vucevic hasn't hit his groove yet (in my opinion) but he'll be a 20-points-per-game guy when he does. Alex Caruso posted yet another quintuple-single tonight with nine points, six assists, three rebounds, two steals, and one block. Rookie Ayo Dosunmu was an impact player off the bench (14 points tonight), and the bench should only get better when Coby White gets healthy. It's really not fair to the league. LeBron is probably crying into a cup of his new brand of tequila right now just thinking about how his time winning titles is officially over until he forces his way out of L.A. and onto the Bulls next year.

Next up is a road matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers. My models say the Bulls should be a 33.5 point favorite even if Joel Embiid miraculously isn't missing this game for another injury. Life is good in Chicago.

*This record reflects the record of the Bulls in games that actually count because they don't involve Patrick Williams dislocating his wrist on a dirty play that led to the Knicks winning a dumb game by one point. Anyone (like ESPN) that includes this game in the Bulls' record is being biased and disingenuous.