Even in his younger days, there were very few instances where a coach would turn to the small forward and tell him, “Go ahead and lock ‘em down.’’
What DeRozan is, however, is crafty.
Milwaukee found that out on Wednesday, as DeRozan drew two huge offensive fouls against Bobby Portis and Giannis Antetokounmpo, and then just to make sure that the Bucks knew that he wasn’t playing on that end of the floor, the smaller DeRozan offered up a block on Brook Lopez … all 7-foot-1 of him.
So while 18 points by the Bulls veteran in that third quarter was just another masterpiece to add to the collection, the dirty work DeRozan did on the defensive end will be the difference between this team being a pretender or contender come the spring.