"MVP! MVP!" "It felt incredible," Kyrie Irving said, while talking about hearing the chants that rained upon him as the Brooklyn Nets guard went to the free throw line for his 52nd point.
"You just want to carry that over into the next game."
Irving finished with a season-high 54 after coming out of the blocks on fire. In the first half, he shot a perfect 10 of 10 shots from the floor, including a breakaway layup with seven seconds left in the second quarter, which he followed up with a steal and a three-point shot.
The incredible performance comes days after Irving had to leave the arena, when news came that his good friend and mentor, Kobe Bryant, had tragically died in a helicopter crash. But it was his memory that helped Irving against the Chicago Bulls.
He said: "It's an open wound. But I think just coming out here knowing that this is a place where we connected on a deeper scale, it makes a lot of sense, what's happening."
But he was keen to credit his teammates as the reason for his successful night. He said: "My teammates were in the right spots. When they're being aggressive like that, it makes my job a lot easier."
Irving's first-half 27 points was supported by Spencer Dinwiddie, who managed 15 points and finished with 20 by the end of the game, and Taurean Prince, who scored 11 in the opening two quarters and ended the game with 16.