DeRozan and LaVine lead the Bulls back to the top of the Eastern Conference

The Chicago Bulls are 12-5 and top the Eastern Conference standings.

The hot start was the franchise’s best start since the 2011-12 season, where they finished the shortened season with a 50-16 record, tied for the best of the league with the San Antonio Spurs.

Everyone knows what happened next. Derrick Rose suffered a serious knee injury and the Bulls were bounced in six games by the Philadelphia 76ers.

The fact that the Bulls made their way to the top of the East by beating Rose, former head coach Tom Thibodeau and the New York Knicks feels somewhat fitting, as Chicago fans repeatedly remind everyone in their ears that the BULLS are BACK. AGAIN!

Prior to the game against the Knicks, the Bulls were seventh in both offense and defense, and held fourth place in the league’s best nets rankings, well ahead of the teams by 5.4 points out of 100 in possession.

According to StatMuse, the Bulls have just finished 12 games on the schedule with teams over .500, winning the entire run with an 8-4 record.

Chicago’s defense is lame at the moment, surprisingly, with many predicting that this will be a team bogged down near the end of the league at that end of the floor. Unlike the 2012 lineup that was held up by Joakim Noah’s defensive excellence, the modern version is vitaled by the relentless combination of Alex Caruso and Lonzo Ball.

However, the offense was as advertised, with Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan leading the way.

DeRozan dropped another 31 points against the Knicks, his sixth game of 30 points in 16 games. He had 11 such performances in 61 games against San Antonio last season.

The 32-year-old simply scorched teams near the basket, with 68% finishing in the belt combined with his 57% points coming from the short-midfield area according to Glass cleaning.

For the first time in a long time, the Bulls have a pair of goalscorers that can deal equal damage in isolation, giving them multiple ways to attack late in the game.

Both DeRozan and LaVine are creating 1.11 points for each quarantine possession, on par with Kevin Durant and just behind James Harden (1.14 PPIP) of 16 players with at least 45 separate possessions during the season.

The good news for Bulls fans is that these numbers are extremely sustainable, with DeRozan generating 1.20 points per possession in isolation last season, while LaVine was at 1.14.

The Chicago pair will each be selected for this season’s All-Star, and in one of the most unlikely storylines of the beginning of the season, they’ll most likely outshine each other when it comes to the MVP conversation.

DeRozan or LaVine in conversation with MVP? Totally wild but equally fair through the first quarter of the campaign.

Behind the star duo, the Bulls are seeing their offensive efficiency improve in the fourth quarter, with their full-season offensive stat of 109.5 and rising to 113.6 in the final period, fourth best in the league.

We should also mention the fact that the recent run also took big boys Nikola Vucevic (health and safety protocol) and Patrick Williams (wrist surgery) out of the lineup.

In an extended meeting with several contenders expected to get off to a slow start, the Bulls have a legitimate chance to secure a home-field advantage to start the knockout stages.

It’s hard not to be impressed with the Bulls so far, and it all started with DeRozan and LaVine.