For the better part of the NBA regular season, DeMar DeRozan was a point-scoring machine and had worked himself into the MVP conversation. I’m not giving up on that kind of production just yet.

After a slow and inefficient first game of the playoffs against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Bulls will need DeRozan’s production to rebound in a major way if they want to draw the series even in the second game. Personally, that’s what I’m banking on – at least the first half of it.

Through the regular season, DeRozan was the fifth-leading scorer across the league with 27.9 points per game. He did so on 20.2 field goal attempts per game while shooting a wildly impressive 50.4% from the floor. Those types of numbers are typically reserved for big men, not 6-foot-6 guards/forwards.

Many are saying that the Bucks shut down the Bulls in their first playoff meeting. It’s a fair assumption, considering the Bulls shot only 32.3% from the floor and 18.9% from distance. DeRozan was, honestly, horrible. He made only six of his 25 shots for a 24% field goal percentage, and was 0-2 from three. Still, he managed to score 18 points, because scoring points is what he does.

While the common rhetoric might be that the Bucks locked up the Bulls, DeRozan doesn’t appear to believe so. 

“I guarantee you we’re not going to shoot like we shot tonight,” he said after the game.

“(It’s) nothing they’re doing defensively,” DeRozan said. “Most of the shots I took were wide open. Wide open. Wide open. I’ll live with them again. There’s no way in hell I’ll shoot 6 for 25 again.”

DeRozan takes a ton of shots. Across the league, his 20.26 field goal attempts per game ranked 9th. With that usage and the point-scoring abilities that we saw out of him during the regular season, I’m expecting a mad and motivated DeRozan to rebound in his shooting efficiency and get back to his scoring ways. Even with a high line set of 28.5 points, there is plenty of reason to confidently bet the over.