Chicago Bulls’ Ayo Dosunmu made Trae Young look like the rookie

The Chicago Bulls were finally back at it after the All Star Break, and boy did they give fans a treat at the United Center.

Taking on the Atlanta Hawks, who are trying to stay in the thick of a playoff hunt themselves, the Bulls allowed them to hang around for most of the game. In fact, Atlanta took the lead at one point with just a few minutes remaining.

Chicago ended up winning it by a score of 112-108 thanks to an incredible fourth quarter performance by DeMar DeRozan — to no one’s surprise.

But, there was another great performance from last night’s game that has to be talked about, and it was rookie Ayo Dosunmu.

Chicago Bulls rookie Ayo Dosunmu had the assignment of Trae Young Thursday night, and took care of business like a true veteran.

Late in the fourth, with 30 seconds remaining and the shot clock winding down, Trae Young drove to the hoop with the Hawks up by one. Dosunmu stayed with Young the entire drive and forced an errant layup attempt that missed badly.

On the opposite end, DeMar DeRozan did his thing and put the Bulls up. That was the signature defensive play from Dosunmu, who held Young in check all night long.

Not to mention, Ayo also put Young on skates earlier in the fourth quarter.

Throughout the entire night, it was Dosunmu’s pesky defense which clearly irritated Young and threw him off his game.

Young finished an abysmal 3-for-17 shooting, scoring just 14 points. Had it not been for the refs blowing unusually-late whistles after Young would miss a layup, the guard would have finished with just six points.

Dosunmu’s defense on Young was so good that the Hawks All Star finished the game with four turnovers as well. It was a truly remarkable and signature performance from Dosunmu, who continues to get better and better as this season goes on.

As for his own game, Dosunmu finished with 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and three huge blocks. It was an all-around game for the kid, but more than anything, his defense made him a star in this one.

Just because we cannot overshadow the performance by DeRozan in this one, it has to be mentioned that the MVP candidate finished with his 8th-straight game of 35 or more points on at least 50 percent shooting, furthering his own NBA record.

If DeRozan scores 35 in the next two games, he would tie Michael Jordan’s franchise record of 10 games in a row with such a total.