Chicago Bulls: 2 studs, 1 dud, from nail-biting win over Raptors
Chicago Bulls dud from the win over the Raptors: Nikola Vucevic
It feels like the honorary dud for the Bulls early this season, and in some games from the preseason slate, is the two-time All-Star and former Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic. The defense was pretty good for Vucevic in the first half, and it seemed like the offensive skill set was making a return too. But Vucevic’s effectiveness died off in the second half.
If you look at the stat sheet alone, you might not notice very many differences between the production and efficiency that DeRozan and Vucevic put up in this close win over the Raptors. But if you watched this game in the fourth quarter, you noticed the difference in the presence for the Bulls between these two veteran stars.
Vucevic turned the ball over a couple of times in bad spots. And he looked unaware in others that nearly cost the Bulls this game. It also didn’t help that Vucevic got a lack of help defense often down the stretch when he ended up in one-on-one defense with VanFleet. One time in the final two minutes, VanFleet made him pay.
The other time, the Bulls got away with one when VanFleet missed the potential game-tying three-pointer in the dying seconds of the fourth quarter.
In this game, Vucevic registered 17 points, eight rebounds, two assists, three steals, no blocks, and one turnover. And he shot 8-of-15 from the field, missed on two attempts from beyond the arc, and went 1-of-2 from the free-throw line. Vucevic struggled from distance again, passed up on some uncontested three-point looks from above the break (his usual favorite spot), and just looked out of it in the fourth quarter.
What Vucevic did well in this game was stay active in the passing lanes, finish well around the rim for the most part, and minimize turnovers in the first half. But I counted two turnovers that Vucevic was responsible for and two more that he helped the Bulls cough up.
Vucevic was questionable heading into this game with an illness. So maybe that is something plaguing him at the moment (no pun intended). We’ll see how he can respond in the remaining games this month as the schedule gets more difficult in the coming weeks.