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Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine has emerged as one of the few reasons to watch this mediocre team. Here are a few of his best games from the 2019-20 season.
If you’re a Chicago Bulls fan, chances are you haven’t enjoyed much of the now-suspended 2019-20 season as far as your favorite team is concerned. After all, the franchise is still owned, managed (until recently), and coached by a cavalcade of knuckleheads and given its odd mashup of talent, the future doesn’t seem much brighter.
Among the gloom, however, sixth-year wing Zach LaVine has stood out as a sliver of sunlight. While LaVine hasn’t fully quieted the whispers regarding his potential as the best player on a championship contender, his impressive rate stats — 25.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game on 56.8 percent true shooting — have numbed some of the headaches this team causes. Yes, his defense and decision-making need plenty of work, but his scoring punch has kept this offense afloat.
Given his status as one of the few Bulls players who can manufacture their own shot, the former UCLA Bruin has produced plenty of high-scoring efforts this season. Whittling all of those 20-plus point performances down to his best five seems like a difficult task, but that’s what this article aims to do using Game Score and plus/minus stats alongside the eye-catching cumulative totals.
We’ll take a look at the five best games for Zach LaVine so far in the 2019-20 season. Without further ado, let’s get started.
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<p>And he hunted for contact to garner seven free throw attempts:</p>
<div style="width: 640px;" class="wp-video"><video class="wp-video-shortcode" id="video-390739-2" width="640" height="360" preload="metadata" controls="controls"><source type="video/mp4" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/04/10/chicago-bulls-zach-lavine-5-best-games/"https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2020/01/10/0021900570/578/d1a2b40e-4a93-5479-c5cc-28b394301477_1280x720.mp4?_=2%22>
https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2020/01/10/0021900570/578/d1a2b40e-4a93-5479-c5cc-28b394301477_1280x720.mp4
<p>But ultimately, his 8-for-13 night from behind the arc lifted his scoring totals and this offense.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/04/10/chicago-bulls-zach-lavine-5-best-games/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 4 </a>
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<img class="size-full wp-image-391895" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/04/10/chicago-bulls-zach-lavine-5-best-games/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1067,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1194003446.jpeg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1194003446.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1194003446-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Chicago Bulls (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>4. Nov. 23 vs. Charlotte Hornets</h3>
<p>If you don’t watch a ton of Bulls games — and no one would blame you if you didn’t — and you only viewed LaVine through the lens of a box score or the occasional highlight reel, your mind would probably conjure up an image of a player who dribbles a bunch and eats up most of the shot clock trying to whip up some offense.</p>
<p>Given that LaVine ranks ninth in the league in usage rate and shoots pull-ups 37.8 percent of the time, those presumptions wouldn’t be too far off, but they belie how versatile the wing’s offensive repertoire is. Of the 20 attempts LaVine averages per game, a little more than half come after two dribbles, so he knows how to mine some scoring out of many situations.</p>
<p>Against the <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/04/10/chicago-bulls-zach-lavine-5-best-games/"https://hoopshabit.com/eastern-conference/charlotte-hornets/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Charlotte Hornets</a> on Nov. 23, LaVine flashed some of his off-ball prowess. Finishing with a season-high 49 points while making 13 of 17 3-pointers, he inflicted most of his damage on off-ball screens and as the beneficiary of drive-and-kicks.</p>
<p>Here’s LaVine keeping the floor spaced early in the game, with <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/04/10/chicago-bulls-zach-lavine-5-best-games/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/satorto01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Tomas Satoransky</a> feeding him when he recognizes that Charlotte’s defense is out of position:</p>
<div style="width: 640px;" class="wp-video"><video class="wp-video-shortcode" id="video-390739-3" width="640" height="360" preload="metadata" controls="controls"><source type="video/mp4" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2020/04/10/chicago-bulls-zach-lavine-5-best-games/"https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2019/11/23/0021900226/47/0d6dea54-dec6-d800-4030-33fac9b68173_1280x720.mp4?_=3%22>
https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2019/11/23/0021900226/47/0d6dea54-dec6-d800-4030-33fac9b68173_1280x720.mp4
