DeRozan scores 28 as Bulls edge Trail Blazers
CHICAGO (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 28 points and Nikola Vucevic made a key hook shot with 9.3 seconds left, helping the Chicago Bulls edge the Portland Trail Blazers 110-107 on Monday night.
Vucevic had 22 points and nine rebounds in Chicago's third win in four games. Ayo Dosunmu finished with 23 points and 10 assists.
Anfernee Simons scored 12 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter for Portland, but he missed a 3 from the top of the key as time expired. Deandre Ayton had 25 points and 15 rebounds in his sixth consecutive game with at least 20 points.
The Blazers lost for the seventh time in nine games.
The Bulls' NBA-leading 24th clutch victory — a game that is within five points with under five minutes left — moved them within a game of .500 at 34-35. But they were outscored 32-21 in the final quarter.
Each team played without its second-leading scorer. Bulls guard Coby White missed his third straight game with a right hip strain, and Portland's Jerami Grant sat out for the fourth straight contest with a right hamstring strain.
Dosunmu was 9 for 17 from the field while running the offense in White's absence. He scored a career-high 34 points during Saturday night's 127-98 victory over Washington.
With 3:32 left in the fourth, Simons drilled a contested 3-pointer from the left wing to put Portland up 105-104 for their first lead since the first quarter. But Simons' potential go-ahead attempt from long distance rimmed out with 34 seconds remaining.
Vucevic's turnaround hook shot made it 108-105 with 9.3 seconds left, and the Bulls fouled Simons intentionally to put him on the free-throw line rather than allow him a chance at a tying 3 until the final moments.
Portland entered Monday averaging the third-most turnovers in the NBA, and its miscues weighed heavily once more. The Bulls scored 19 points off 13 Blazers turnovers, including a driving Vucevic dunk on a fast break opened by a Torrey Craig steal that put Chicago up 82-66 with 3:15 left in the third.
UP NEXT
Trail Blazers: Return to Portland on Wednesday for the first of two straight home games against the Clippers.
Bulls: Visit the Rockets in Houston on Thursday.
Trail Blazers: Return to Portland on Wednesday for the first of two straight home games against the Clippers.
Bulls: Visit the Rockets in Houston on Thursday.
