I'm pretty sure there was someone on this site arguing a couple of months back that the Bulls were a real threat because DeMar had grown as a player. This was the new and improved DeMar we were seeing in the regular season, not Toronto DeMar.
Sure looked like the same old DeMar DeRozan to me in the playoffs.
Obviously the Bulls had a ton of injuries causing them to go out with a whimper, not laying that all on DeMar, but he still sucked for the series, except for Game 2.
As you acknowledge, there were huge injuries. He was playing his best when ball was healthy because lonzo shot 42% on 7.5 three pointers again. Think about that for a minute. Then you add in a banged up/not playing Caruso and then add on top of it lavine and it becomes a downright laughable argument. Let’s not discount an 82 game season because the rest of the guard rotation was out. Heck curry and Durant have recently struggled in similar situations. Man has improved every year and was awesome this year. I applaud him.
I’ll also add that Milwaukee was a tough draw but a healthy Caruso, lavine and ball this team is way better.
What's the laughable argument?
That he took 10 shots tonight? Or 9 in Game 3? Went 6 for 25 in Game 1? I don't care how many injuries a team has, this is not what I expect from a "superstar". If the dude can't get shots because other players are out, he's just not that great.
And definitely not due to Lonzo. Lonzo went out in mid-January, while DeMar had his best month in February (34.2 ppg)
The more guys that are out, the more shots I expect someone like DeMar to take. Compare it to last year with the Celtics. Brown's out, Walker's out, Time Lord's out. Did Tatum take more or less shots? He took a lot more (about 5 more per game if you either take out or adjust for Game 2 when he only played 1 half due to an eye injury).
I'm not saying I expect DeMar to lead Chicago to victory. It's a tough match up that the Bulls would probably struggle with even if healthy. But DeMar's always been fool's gold in my book. One of the reason's he looked good this year is he was taking more shots and his usage is up. Did he get better, ya a little bit. But is he a different player, not really.
You can judge him by the regular season all you want. I'll continue to judge him by what he shows in the playoffs.
It's like if Ben Simmons comes out next year, has his best statistical season ever, it would be fair to wait until the playoffs to really judge him, right?
