Nikola Vucevic leads the Chicago Bulls’ offense, which is when the team performs best.
All-Star big man and two-time All-Star said at least they were against the Boston Celtics. But they were still defeated 129–112 in their first game following the All-Star break.
Before the half, the Bulls led 62–59, having overcome a 16-point deficit in the first quarter.
The second quarter saw them outscore the Celtics 39-28. However, the third quarter saw the Celtics come back with a 37-21 advantage.
After the game, Vucevic told reporters, “I think we were playing at a quicker pace in the second quarter when I really got going.” “When their defense wasn’t set, I was able to get a lot of my shots in the pocket, out of transition, screen-and-roll, and other similar plays.”
The game slowed down in the third quarter as a result of them making so many shots and us needing to remove the ball from the paint so frequently. They also took away a lot of our possessions in the paint. They infiltrated us. Nothing much got going for us. Thus, that was, I believe, the largest distinction and removed items from the pocket.
He remarked, “I have to examine it to see if I could have been more assertive.” However, that was how it felt.
In addition to his two assists, Vucevic recorded a team-high 22 points and 14 rebounds. But in the second half, he only managed two points on one of his seven attempts.
Bulls Are “Not a Good Shooting Team,” Says Nikola Vucevic
He was, however, 0 for 3 from three, continuing his shooting slump. The Bulls made 28 three-pointers in the contest compared to the Celtics’ 47.
Boston had 23 deep looks, but Chicago only managed to sink 10.
Vucevic stated, “That’s what they do.” They have excellent shooting ability. They have a lot of shooting ability; in fact, their entire starting five are quite proficient shooters. We therefore anticipated that. That was clearly the main distinction. They made nearly as many threes as we did.
It’s difficult, terribly difficult, particularly with a gap like this one. We have occasionally done a little better with that this season, in my opinion. However, it’s challenging in a game like this one when they really heat up and we’re not really making shots—generally speaking, we’re not a terrific shooting team for threes like that.
According to NBA.com, the Bulls are 19th in efficiency this season and 22nd in three-point attempts.
First and fourth place go to the Celtics, respectively. It is hard for Vucevic and the Bulls to overcome that, especially considering that they only shot a meager 35.7% from outside the arc against the Celtics’ 48.9% for the game.
Bulls’ response to the Celtics’ 3Q surge was “diminished.”
“I felt like they really took it to us in the third quarter, and we didn’t really respond well,” Vucevic remarked. “We had a few early third-quarter misses. And after they made a few baskets, we started to lose confidence in ourselves and were never able to fully recover in the game.
At the half, the Celtics were 10-for-22 from beyond the arc, while the Bulls were only 6-for-14.
However, they shot just 2 out of 7 in the third quarter as the Celtics shot 7 out of 11, which sealed their destiny and dropped their season record to 26-30.
“There is undoubtedly a significant difference. Undoubtedly affected the match, according to Vucevic. “They certainly made some difficult ones. However, they are an excellent team. They proved tonight why they are arguably the finest basketball club in the league right now.
