DeMar DeRozan's 50-point game carries Chicago Bulls to key OT win

CHICAGO — When Chicago Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan returned to the locker room on Thursday night — having just willed the Bulls to a 135-130 overtime victory over the LA Clippers with a season-high 50 points — his teammate, Zach LaVine, sat and waited to present him with the game ball.

However, as DeRozan went to retrieve his prize, the rest of the team went into a frenzy, mobbing him and dousing him with water bottles in celebration of another clutch performance.

DeRozan scored 17 points in the fourth quarter and added 10 more in overtime to lead the Bulls to a 16-point second half comeback over the Clippers. It was his second career 50-point game and first since Jan. 1, 2018.

«The win is more meaningful,» DeRozan said after the game. «I wanted to win this game badly. You see how tight the [playoff] race is. Every single game is extremely important and we have no more room to be dropping any more games. That's just my mentality.»

A win Thursday looked unlikely for the Bulls as the fourth quarter winded down. They trailed by three points with 7.2 seconds remaining when DeRozan got fouled by Clippers guard Terrance Mann away from the play on an inbounds pass, setting him up for a free throw that made it a two-point game.

The Bulls put the ball in DeRozan's hands again for the final play and he got fouled by Paul George on a 3-point attempt. He knocked down the first two free throws but missed the third, sending the game into overtime.

DeRozan finished 17 of 26 from the field, 2 of 2 from 3 and 14 of 15 from the free throw line on Thursday with six assists and five rebounds.

«DeMar is unbelievable. After the game he said 'sorry for missing the free throw,'» Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. «We wouldn't have been in OT if it