Bulls a win away from .500 after tense victory over Trail Blazers

Monday night at the United Center was, for the most part, a tedious outing between the Bulls and the Trail Blazers.

That is, until the final three minutes, when after giving up a 16-point second-half lead, the Bulls found themselves trading baskets with one of the worst teams in the Western Conference.

Ultimately, with a clutch effort, the Bulls pulled off a 110-107 victory.

“Something that we have to correct and get better at,” coach Billy Donovan said. “It happened in Indiana [when] we were up by eight to start the fourth. We have to look at those possessions in terms of the guys understanding what the things are in games that change momentum.”

DeMar DeRozan scored nine points in the fourth quarter, and Alex Caruso made the biggest stop of the night. With five fouls hanging over him, Caruso prevented Anfernee Simons from getting off a potential game-tying three-pointer with two seconds left.

“I just tried to shadow him,” Caruso said. “Up three, that much time left, you look to foul.

“I didn’t like the look to foul because he was square to the basket. Then instincts just took over.”

DeRozan had a team-high 28 points with six assists and five rebounds in just over 40 minutes. But in the fourth quarter, it wasn’t his scoring that had the most impact. DeRozan came up with a crucial rebound, found Nikola Vucevic in the lane and he converted a hook-shot to put the Bulls up three with under 10 seconds left. DeRozan also went 3-for-3 from the free-throw line.

In his 15th season, DeRozan leads the league in minutes played.

“I try to take good care of myself the best way I can, try to rest,” he said. “I don’t have any other hobbies.”

In the third quarter, the Bulls managed to come alive from behind the arc.

They went into the half leading by five, shooting just 28.6% from three. In the third quarter, they found their three-point stroke, going 6-for-11. Onuralp Bitim capped it off with a three at the buzzer to give the Bulls a 14-point lead.

In the fourth quarter, their three-point issues returned as they shot just 1-for-8 from behind the arc while allowing the Blazers to shoot 45%.

Torrey Craig had a quiet first half. After going 0-for-2 with just one three-point attempt, Craig hit his first shot of the game two minutes into the third quarter. Entering Monday, Craig was shooting 38.1% from three in six games since returning from a sprained right knee that sidelined him for seven games after the All-Star break. He finished with six points, two assists and two rebounds.

Before the game, Donovan talked about the next step in Ayo Dosunmu’s development in trying to establish more consistency. Dosunmu followed up a career-high 34-point performance Saturday with 23 points, which marked the first time in his career that he had back-to-back 20-plus-point performances. He added 10 assists and a steal.

“He’s doing that,” Donovan said. “He’s trying to pride himself on being a guy that can be consistent night in and night out. It’s not always going to be in scoring. I thought he responded really well. He didn’t have the scoring output he had the other night, but he played a really sound game all the way through.”

Andre Drummond had nine points and 11 rebounds for his 24th 10-plus-rebound game of the season. In the fourth, Drummond took a blow to the face, and Donovan said a tooth would need to be looked at.

The Bulls have an opportunity to reach .500 when they visit the Rockets on Thursday.