Chicago Bulls Overshadow Concerning Zach LaVine Injury News With Season-Opening Win Over Heat

The Chicago Bulls were already an underdog heading into their season-opening South Beach showdown against the Miami Heat. Then came the surprising news that Zach LaVine wouldn’t play because of “left knee injury management,” sparking concern over his status after his offseason knee surgery and signing of a $215 million max contract.

Just days earlier, LaVine said he was feeling good and not dealing with any pain in the knee. While he was first listed as questionable on Tuesday, most still expected him to suit up for the opener. LaVine brushed off his absence for the Heat game and said he was just being “safe,” but Bulls head coach Billy Donovan admitted LaVine has been feeling some “discomfort” and “soreness,” per Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune.

The mixed messaging raised some red flags, especially after everything that has happened with Lonzo Ball this year. With Ball out for the foreseeable future and LaVine now missing the first game of the season after a lengthy rest, things seemed bleak for the Bulls heading into this first game.

And, at first, it looked like Chicago was going to get blown out in Miami. The Heat ran out to a 13-4 lead and controlled the first quarter and a half of action. But the Bulls didn’t back down, catching Miami in the second quarter and then taking full control in the third quarter behind, who else, DeMar DeRozan.

After a relatively quiet first half, DeRozan exploded for 19 points in the third quarter as Chicago surged ahead and then closed the door with nine fourth-quarter points to hold off the home team. That’s 28 of his game-high 37 points in the second half in a 116-108 victory. He shot 14-of-22 from the field and 2-of-3 from 3-point range in a message aimed at all the skeptics who wondered if he could replicate last season’s career performance.

DeRozan was the clear star, but he needed help to beat this Heat team on their home floor. Second-year guard Ayo Dosunmu lived up to the preseason hype with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists while shooting 7-of-14 overall and 3-of-6 from 3-point range. Dosunmu is already gunning for a new contract this season and got off to a great start, badly outplaying his point guard counterpart in Kyle Lowry.

Speaking of outplaying, Nikola Vucevic got the best of Bam Adebayo, who struggled throughout the night with misses around the basket while not impacting the game defensively as expected. Vucevic had his own issues with his shot (5-of-13), but he finished with 15 points and 17 rebounds and was a game-best plus-16.

Goran Dragic (12) and Coby White (10) were the other Bulls in double figures, with Dragic keeping Chicago within striking distance in the second quarter thanks to going 4-of-4 from 3-point range. Dragic’s fellow Bulls newcomer, Andre Drummond, also played well in spurts, though things got ugly for him early in the fourth quarter before he gave way to Vucevic.

This was a terrific team effort for the Bulls, who routinely got destroyed by the best teams in the Eastern Conference last season, the Heat included. Carving up Miami’s typically vaunted defense without LaVine and Ball was a shocker given how much Chicago struggled against them last season, though the Heat were uncharacteristically sloppy on that end. On a related note, it was also a surprise to see the Bulls outscore the Heat from beyond the arc, going 13-of-36 to Miami’s 12-of-28.

It was a feel-good win for a Bulls team that really needed it. A blowout loss in conjunction with the LaVine injury news would have brought about plenty of doom and gloom. While the LaVine injury is still worrying and will need to be monitored, perhaps all season, this big victory was a nice reminder of how awesome DeRozan is and gave some hope Chicago can weather the storm of these early injury woes.

LaVine will miss Friday’s game on the road against the Washington Wizards, which is no surprise because the Bulls’ home opener is Saturday against the Cleveland Cavaliers. LaVine isn’t going to be playing back-to-backs for a while, if he plays them at all this season. The hope is he’ll play against the Cavaliers, who could be without All-Star point guard Darius Garland because of an eye injury.

If LaVine doesn’t play in that game, more warning signs will be blinking. But for now, the Bulls will bask in this first victory as they prepare for Washington.