The Chicago Bulls needed a major bounce-back performance during their Wednesday night clash against the Indiana Pacers after they got demolished by the Dallas Mavericks back on Monday. That is exactly what the Bulls got from DeMar DeRozan, as the veteran shooting guard had the Pacers on toast especially to end the game. DeRozan ended up with a season-high 46 points, putting the team on his back with a game-tying bucket at the end of regulation and plenty of clutch buckets during the extra period.

As a result of DeRozan's explosion, he has now tallied his fifth 45-point game since signing with the franchise in 2021. The Bulls guard has the third-most 45-point games in franchise history, putting him behind Michael Jordan and Zach LaVine.

However, DeMar DeRozan, and LaVine for that matter, aren't as close to Jordan as the aforementioned 45-point game ranking above illustrates. Just to put Jordan's greatness in even better perspective, he had 73 games where he scored 45 or more for the Bulls, nearly 15 times as many as DeRozan's (five) and LaVine's tally (six).

This graphic was initially shown in NBC Sports Chicago's broadcast of the Bulls' major overtime victory over the Pacers, and it puts in perspective just how dominant Michael Jordan was during his time. Scoring wasn't exactly easy back then, especially during the 1990s, so for Jordan to tally as many 45-point games as he did over this 13-season stint in the Windy City makes him quite a scoring machine that could have reached greater heights had he not retired twice as a member of the franchise.

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For DeMar DeRozan, it's also an impressive feat that he has remained one of the best scorers in the NBA even as he ages into his mid-30s. DeRozan has been the Bulls' main weapon in crunch time as well, and he, more often than not, has risen to the occasion.

In the NBA, it's tempting to see hitting rock bottom as the most efficient way to rebuild. But DeRozan is showing that there might be value in the Bulls' insistence to remain semi-competitive even amid all the franchise's frustrations.