After hitting the game-winning shot to complete his best showing of the season, Nikola Vucevic described the Chicago Bulls beating the Utah Jazz by saying, “We found a way.”
As the Bulls continues to inch closer to the .500 mark, Vucevic will try to help them find more ways to win Friday night when they visit the Brooklyn Nets.
Chicago is 10-7 in its past 17 games since losing seven straight from Nov. 24 to Dec. 7. The Bulls reached .500 twice before losing three straight Jan. 3-7.
The Bulls face the Nets in a home-and-home with a chance to get to .500 by Sunday following Wednesday’s 128-126 home victory over Utah.
Vucevic converted the game-winning layup with four seconds left when he took a pass from Tre Jones after Issac Okoro saved the ball from going out of bounds. That capped a season-high 35-point showing for Vucevic, who scored 16 in the fourth quarter when the Bulls struggled to hold on to a 12-point lead in the final six minutes left.
“I feel that play kind of summarized the whole game,” Vucevic said. “It was a lot of ups and downs, a lot of mistakes we made, turnovers and defensive coverages. Overall, happy we won. We found a way.”
Vucevic’s big night occurred as the other starters were inconsistent, leading to a combined 61 points from reserves Ayo Dosunmu, Patrick Williams, Kevin Huerter, Jalen Smith and Dalen Terry. The only other Chicago starter to reach double figures was Okoro, who contributed 12 points, but the Bulls were still able to shoot 51.1%, hit 17 3s and score at least 125 for the eighth time in their past 17 games.
“It’s the job we do,” Vucevic said. “You have to be professional. You have good games, bad games. You have to bring it every night.”
The Nets showed progress by winning seven of 10 games with consistent defense from Dec. 1-27. Starting with a 120-107 home loss to the Golden State Warriors on Dec. 29, Brooklyn is 1-8 over its past nine games and on a five-game losing streak — two shy of its season worst.
Brooklyn just finished a three-game trip where it lost by a combined 16 points to the Memphis Grizzlies, Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans.
In Wednesday’s 116-113 loss at New Orleans, the Nets held an early 12-point lead before getting outscored 27-16 over the final 9:12 of the game. Brooklyn struggled to maintain its physicality by allowing 26 second-chance points on 18 offensive rebounds — two shy of their season worst.
“It’s extremely disappointing because I keep telling our guys over and over again how important defensive rebounding is,” Brooklyn coach Jordi Fernandez said after his team was outrebounded 53-43. “I know our guys care about doing the right things. The problem is right now, our focus and our intentions are not there, and that’s something that I got to help get better at.”
On Wednesday, Michael Porter Jr. led the Nets with 20 points. While he went 10 of 22 from 3-point range in the past two games, he also shot 40.3% from the floor over his past three games. Rookie Egor Demin added 17 points to reach double figures for the 10th time in his last 12 games. He has shot 52.7% (29 of 55) from behind the 3-point arc over his last seven games.
