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Men's Basketball

Doug McDermott Delivers Vintage Heroics in Return to Nebraska

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He did it again.

This wasn’t supposed to be a story about how Chicago Bulls second-year forward Doug McDermott reverting back to hometown hero in his first game back in the state that watched him become a three-time All-American and National Player of the Year winner as a Creighton Bluejay. All day the narrative was how he was adjusting to life as a role player in his second year in the National Basketball Association. His All-Star teammate Jimmy Butler, his sure-fire Hall-of-Famer opponent Dirk Nowitzki, his second head coach in as many professional seasons Fred Hoiberg — they answered questions from morning shoot around to evening pregame about what the future held for McDermott as a professional basketball player.

And after his first 25 minutes on the floor it looked like that was going to be the topic of conversation after the game as well. McDermott started 0-for-7 from the field, but he crashed the glass, kept defending, set screens for teammates, and stayed active on the offensive end. It was a sign of a maturing player, one who knows that when the shot isn’t falling you still have to keep playing and finding ways to contribute.

“I thought it was terrific,” Hoiberg said of seeing McDermott’s contributions despite the shooting struggles. “I thought it was great that he kept playing. He was rebounding for us out there. I thought he was battling on the defensive end.”

For the young sharpshooter it’s part of his learning process, one he is slowly beginning to understand as he continues the mental transition from go-to number one option to role player and a guy who can space the floor for his teammates.

“It’s part of the game,” McDermott said. “There are 82 games about to come our way, and they’re not all going to perfect, so you have to find other ways to impact the game and not get down on yourself. I feel like I kind of am starting to slowly learn that.”

He did more than talk the talk. He missed seven shots on the offensive end, but he grabbed seven rebounds on the defensive end. The story of his learning curve was going to be a nice one as the Bulls wrapped up their 2015-16 preseason schedule against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

Then Doug McDermott flipped the script at the end of the game. He showed the capacity crowd of 15,297 that he still is the player they all remembered watching for four incredible seasons not too long ago. With 3:34 remaining in the 4th quarter, McDermott rose up from just off the top of the key and buried his first shot of the game — a 3-pointer that gave Chicago a 92-91 lead after they fell behind by five a few minutes prior.

 

“It took a long time for that one to go in, so it felt good,” McDermott said. “I like the Devaney Center rims a little better, they’re a little more friendly to me.” That three wouldn’t be the last big shot he would hit in his first game at Lincoln’s now three-year-old Pinnacle Bank Arena. A 7-0 run by the Mavericks allowed them to retake the lead, 102-101 with five seconds remaining in the game. Hoiberg called a timeout and drew up a play for the hometown hero. Despite the 1-for-9 shooting performance up to that point, Chicago’s rookie head coach wanted to give McDermott one more chance to make a crucial play in front of a Nebraska crowd. “I wanted to run it for him, because obviously he had a lot of support here,” Hoiberg said. “He played an hour down the road, and I wanted to put it in his hands and let him be the guy that wins it or loses it for us.” And as he had done so many times before, Doug McDermott, Dougie McBuckets, came through. He received the inbounds pass on the left side of the court a few steps inside the arc. He took a couple dribbles, through up a shot fake, faded back and splashed home the game-winner with one second remaining. The crowd roared and celebrated another Doug McDermott moment as Dallas’ desperate final play was intercepted giving Chicago a 103-102 win, and the former Creighton All-American a moment he won’t soon forget.  

“That’s a play we ran in summer league a few times, so I was very familiar with it,” McDermott said. “It’s mainly to try and draw a foul, but Jamil Wilson didn’t go for the fake, so I just went middle and it’s a shot that I’m used to shooting. I haven’t shot it in a while in a game, but it kind of brought back memories and it’s cool that it was here in Nebraska.”

The game-winning shot was one he used often during his later years at Creighton. He learned it by watching the guy he beat on Friday night — former NBA Most Valuable Player in Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki. Earlier in the day Nowitzki was asked if he had seen Doug’s version of it, he said he hadn’t.

Before the game, McDermott said he might get the chance to show him his version, “I hope I have a couple opportunities. We’ll see maybe late if I get it going, but I’ll show him how it works.”

After the game, McDermott said Nowitzki was impressed.

“He gave me a little nod,” the former Bluejay said. “Once the timeout ended I was standing there and Dirk was like, “is it coming to you?” and I said, “yeah it is,” and they were all laughing. After the game he just looked at me, I think him and Chandler Parsons had a bet on if it was going in or not, so I think Chandler got the better half.”

What’s that they say about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery? For Nowitzki, a humble veteran of the game who has seen the high and lows at the professional level, that applied on Friday when asked about McDermott using the shot he has made famous during his career.

“It’s been an honor to be in this league for a long long time, and I’ve kind of made my mark on it a little bit,” Nowitzki said. “That shot is just created really on the fly. It’s not like I was in the gym practicing it for hours. As you get older you lose a little step here and there, and what you think is I just want to find a way to create a little separation and get the shot up. That’s where that shot came in. I’m glad some of these guys like it, or at least put it in their repertoire. Let’s say the shot clock is going down, you don’t have a lot of room, and your defender is on you, you can always take that little step back one-legger. It’s just a good shot. When there is not a lot of time left, you can always get that off.”

He said that nine hours before McDermott used it in the exact same scenario. Tonight was supposed to just be a story about his development, but in three minutes and thirty-four seconds it turned back into one that’s been written countless times before … thanks to some vintage heroics in front of the hometown fans.

“It was awesome to have everyone here, a lot of Creighton blue in the crowd as well as Bulls jerseys,” McDermott said. “They did an unbelievable job supporting us, and everyone in the locker room can’t stop talking about how great the atmosphere was, so we really appreciate everyone in Nebraska.”

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Interviews with Doug McDermott, Jimmy Butler, Fred Hoiberg, & Dirk Nowitski

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