CHICAGO (670 The Score) – Bulls star guard Zach LaVine put it best after his second big game in as many nights led his team to a third straight win.
"It's good to feel like me again," LaVine said.
In what he viewed as a key step forward and a sign that his surgically repaired left knee is feeling its best in a long time, LaVine scored a game-high 36 points to lead the Bulls to a 126-118 win against the Jazz on Saturday evening at the United Center. It was significant to LaVine because it came on the latter half of a back-to-back and marked the first time he had produced at such a high level in such a situation since his knee surgery in May.
LaVine sat out one end of the Bulls' first two back-to-back sets of the season, then had a dud of a performance on Nov. 2 on the back end of the first back-to-back set he did play in full. Two months later, he now feels much more like himself.
LaVine followed up his 41-point performance in a win in Philadelphia on Friday with another big game Saturday, when he shot 12-of-21 and scored 12 points in the fourth quarter to help the Bulls rally back in the final period. Across Friday and Saturday, LaVine shot a combined 26-of-40 overall (65.0%) and 17-of-29 on 3-pointers (58.6%).
"I feel great," LaVine said. "My legs felt healthy, I felt springy in the beginning of the game.
"That's what happens when you come off surgery, man. Everybody expects you to come back and be yourself or better. But without a lot of training and (with) rehab (in the offseason), you're going to have go through those ups and downs. I take it on the chin. I knew I was going to get back to what I was supposed to do."
LaVine didn't play hardly any five-on-five over the summer as he rehabbed his knee, which is why he expected that it would take extra time to find his full rhythm.
"Your game takes time," LaVine said. "It takes time for your legs to get conditioned. You guys know I don't lack confidence at all. I know the work that I put in each and every day. It's just a matter of time."
LaVine had plenty of help Saturday, as star forward DeMar DeRozan scored 35 points and center Nikola Vucevic added 15 points and 16 rebounds.
Afterward, what stood out to coach Billy Donovan was how effortlessly LaVine got his points and how they came within the flow of the offense.
"The one thing he's doing a great job of is he's playing the game, what I would say, very easy," Donovan said. "And what I mean by that is, in my first year here (in 2020-'21), where he was such a sole creator for our team, there was so much on his plate that he exerted a lot, a lot of energy. And I think he's playing, especially these last two games, really efficiently. You see him and it's one or two dribbles and a pull-up three. One or two dribbles, straight downhill. And he's just reading the game really well."
The Bulls improved to 19-21 with the win and will visit the NBA-best Celtics on Monday evening.
"We're playing well," LaVine said. "We're making big plays. I'm not saying we're playing perfect, but we're competing. We're coming into each game with a certain type of energy and confidence."
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.
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