Luol Deng Goes for Season High 37 in Triple OT Loss

By Sam Neter on December 3, 2013

Luol Deng continued his recent scoring tear with a season high 37 points, along with 8 rebounds and 7 assists in the Chicago Bulls’ 131-128 triple overtime loss to New Orleans at the United Centre last night.

The GB star now has five straight games of 20-plus points, averaging 27 points per game during that stretch, however, it hasn’t translated to wins.

It was the Bulls’ first game at home following a 1-5 road trip while the circus took over the United Center for two weeks.

They’ve won only once since point guard Derrick Rose was lost for the season with a tear in the meniscus in his right knee.

“Right now a lot of things aren’t going our way,” Deng said after the game, having played just under 57 minutes. “We have to stick with it and keep fighting and keep working hard.

“It’s not going to turn around by itself. We have to make it happen. We’re losing a lot of close games right now. It’s something we have to get better with. Individually, I have to get better at making plays at the end of the game.

“This was a tough one, coming back from a trip. I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t tired out there. I was tired. A lot of guys were. Our team and their team, they had a back-to-back. We made a lot of fatigue and mental mistakes at the end.”

Jrue Holiday scored the game-winner on a driving layup with 2.6 seconds remaining. In double-OT, the Bulls rallied from a 118-113 deficit, taking advantage of New Orleans mistakes and tying it at 122 on Deng’s drive with 4.7 seconds to go.

Sixteen games into the season, two-time All Star Luol is averaging a career-high 19.4 points, along with 7.2 rebounds and a career-high 4.1 assists per game on 46% shooting.

Don’t miss a chance to watch Luol in action as the Chicago Bulls take on the Miami Heat this Thursday evening live on BT Sport 1 (Tip off 02.30), or subscribe to NBA League Pass to get access on-demand.

All of Luol’s highlights:

Bonus – full highlights of Luols’ 27 against Detroit

Image Credit: NBAE/Getty Images

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