The Chicago Bulls' dream season is being hit by reality hard. Although they have established themselves as one of the better teams in the league, they fail to beat the very best teams in the league and have been bitten badly by the injury bug. Their 42-30 record is still among the vest in the Eastern Conference and features 11 more wins than last season already.

Zach LaVine, one of the players who has missed consecutive games several times this season, has been the driving force behind the Bulls' resurgence. For years, he has played his hardest and emerged as a star in order to get the Bulls into a position to win. Now that he has enough talent around him, he is doing just that.

As he deals with knee soreness, LaVine told Marc Spears of Andscape that he is doing what he can so that the Bulls can get back into the playoffs.

“I’m doing everything I can,” LaVine said. “People know I play through injury. I hate missing basketball games. I’m a team-first guy. Even when I’m not 100%, I’m helping the team. Obviously, I have to watch out for myself and do due diligence on my rehab and how I feel. I just have to maintain it and I will.”

LaVine's willingness to play through pain shows how badly he wants to win. With Lonzo Ball still not close to playing, the Bulls are missing defense and playmaking that made them extremely good earlier in the season. Still, with LaVine gutting it out, Chicago should at least snap their four-year title drought.