DeMar DeRozan joined rare air with his performance in the Chicago Bulls' season-opening win over the Miami Heat Wednesday night.
His Airness' company, to be specific.
DeRozan posted 37 points in his team's 116-108 victory, making him and Jordan the only players in Bulls history to score 37 or more points in a season opener.
Jordan posted season-openers of 54 points (1989), 50 (1986) and 42 (1995) in his career, as NBC Sports Chicago's Chris Kamka tweeted:
With the outing, DeRozan surpassed a tie for the fourth-highest scoring output in a season opener in team history between Jordan (36, 1987) and Guy Rodgers, who scored 36 in the Bulls franchise's first ever game.
DeRozan got off to a pedestrian start in Miami, scoring 9 first-half points, before exploding to the tune of 19 points on 7-for-9 shooting in a third quarter that swung the momentum of the game in the Bulls' favor. He added 9 more in the fourth to ice the contest, finishing with a shooting line of 14-for-22 from the field and 2-for-3 from 3-point range.
He also added 9 assists, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and a block to amass an all-around stellar performance.
"So-called experts can go look for another job to try to do," DeRozan joked in his walk-off interview after beating last season's Eastern Conference No. 1 seed, referencing those that doubted the Bulls.
DeRozan and the Bulls' next opportunity to build on Wednesday's victory comes Friday at the Washington Wizards, the site of one of DeRozan's most incredible moments: A buzzer-beating corner 3-pointer that made him the first player in NBA history to make game-winning buzzer-beaters on back-to-back days.
Who knows what magic he will have in store then.
