DeMar DeRozan’s late basket spoils RJ Barrett’s 44-point night as Knicks fall to Bulls

All game long it had been RJ Barrett carrying the night, playing the hero. But in the final second, it was DeMar DeRozan who stole the show.

Barrett scored a season-high 44 points, but after the Knicks missed four free throws in the final 1:06 to give Chicago a chance, DeRozan hit a foul-line jumper to give the Bulls a 118-117 win over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

DeRozan was fouled on the play with 0.4 seconds remaining and intentionally missed the free throw. The officials originally whistled that the ball, which banked hard off the glass and fell to DeRozan, did not hit the rim — which would have given the Knicks one last chance. But after a replay review, it was ruled that the ball did graze the rim, giving the Bulls the ball and the game.

The Knicks did themselves in at the free-throw line, squandering chances to put the game away. They shot 15-for-26 from the line, and wasted a big night for Barrett, who finished with 44 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Barrett came out of the game for a breather with 4:55 left in the third quarter and leaned over onto Obi Toppin’s shoulder as if he was going to fall asleep on his teammate. And no one would blame him for a well-deserved rest.

Barrett has always played a high number of minutes — leading the Knicks this season and coming off a game in which he played nearly 46 minutes on Wednesday. But on this night, he had the added burden of carrying the Knicks offense. By the time he sat in the third quarter he already had 34 points — the most in a game this season — and had just thrown down an emphatic dunk over Nikola Vucevic.

When he reentered the game in the fourth quarter, he was serenaded with “RJ Barrett” chants from the crowd. With 7:48 remaining he buried a three — making him 6-for-6 from beyond the arc — and gave the Knicks a 103-98 lead. A pair of free throws just over a minute later gave the Knicks a 105-100 lead.

The Knicks beat the Bulls twice last week in Chicago — once by eight in overtime and then in a one-sided blowout that had rumors surfacing that the Bulls might break up their core pieces. But even with Alex Caruso sidelined, this version of the Bulls didn’t resemble those games in Chicago.

With 3:15 to play, Barrett lost his dribble and Ayo Dosunmu went the other way for a fast break layup to cut the Knicks lead to 111-110. With the Knicks ahead by 2 with 2:10 left, Barrett was called for his fifth foul as he launched a three-point attempt with the shot clock running down, leaning forward into DeRozan.

Zach LaVine then tied the score at 112 with a pair of free throws. On the ensuing possesion, Barrett found Randle in the corner and Randle faked the three and drove into the lane, converting the bank shot and drawing a foul which he converted for the three-point play with 1:45 remaining. 

After Quentin Grimes missed a pair of free throws, LaVine brought Chicago within one again, but Barrett answered one more time — hitting a stepback jumper in the lane with 29.4 seconds remaining to put the Knicks up 117-114.

Patrick Williams misfired on a corner three but the Bulls grabbed the offensive rebound and LaVine drove to the basketball for a layup with 7.6 seconds left. Jalen Brunson took the inbounds pass and was fouled with 6.4 seconds left. Brunson, an 89% free-throw shooter this season, misfired on both attempts.

With that, the Bulls needed just a two-point field goal and put the ball in the hands of DeRozan, the best mid-range player in the NBA. In a switch, Quentin Grimes picked him up and rose with him on the jumper, but couldn’t stop him.