Video: Luol’s Clutch Defensive Plays vs Lakers

By Sam Neter on December 26, 2011

It was an exciting first day of action to tip off the NBA regular season yesterday and whilst the likes of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose are making all the headlines today, there is a certain British star who, as usual, is flying under the radar.

Great Britain’s Luol Deng came up with two huge defensive plays in the final 20 seconds of the Chicago Bulls’ 88-87 victory over the Lakers (and also scored 5 points in the last 45 seconds to help Bulls rally back as they were down by 6 with a minute to play). First of all, he stole the ball on a forced pass from Kobe Bryant to teammate Pau Gasol with the ensuing possession leading to Derrick Rose’s game-winning basket with 4.8 seconds remaining:

Before following that up with another solid defensive display on Kobe at the other end as he blocked his potential game-winner at the buzzer (not the first time he has come up with a block to save the game either):

As ESPN’s John Hollinger so eloquently put it:

“Deng, by the way, made two enormous and extremely difficult defensive plays in the final 30 seconds. We’ll hear nothing about either.”

A great start to the season for Luol, as he finished with 21 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals.

Will this be the best season of his career? How far do you think the Bulls can go?

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