Maybe it’s because he already had a walk off interview, or maybe it’s because he’s a 15-year vet.
It’s rare to hear this tone following a game-winning three-pointer with three seconds on the clock.
“Big win,” Bulls center Nikola Vucevic said. “But again, we can’t rely on making these comebacks. The way we started a game, we can’t have those type of starts, especially against a team like Philly, obviously. We showed a lot of resilience to be able to come back to play, just stick with it until the end. It was great win, a great way to come back. But yeah, again, I think we just have to focus more on why we started the way we did, and not have that happen again.”
Trailing for 47 minutes and 56.8 seconds, by at most 24 points, the Bulls somehow pulled off an improbable 113-111 win against the Philadelphia 76ers following the Vucevic triple.
The Bulls are now 6-1, alone atop the Eastern Conference standings after taking down the 76ers with whom they were previously tied.
The shot was the finishing touch. The aerial, left handed pass through traffic following a turnover on a very similar play the possession prior, was as impressive. Those individual feats stand out, but the fact that the Bulls were able to come back from down 24 points in the first half was what makes this such a special win.
“People will talk about Vooch’s shot at 3.2 seconds, but there’s 24 minutes of lead up there of some plays that these guys made I think that we’re really good,” Billy Donovan said. “But that’s what we have to do. We’ve got to put our body in place. We’ve got to be more physical. We’ve got to collectively rebound. We have to share the ball, and we have to run. It takes a lot, both mentally and physically, for them to do what I’m asking to do. But if we don’t do those things, we don’t have enough margin for error to overcome. We’re not going to throw the ball, like they do, to (Joel) Embiid or (Tyrese) Maxey and just get out of the way. We just don’t have that.”
After giving up 45 points in the first quarter and 75 in the half, the Bulls flipped the physicality switch to on. The 76ers scored just 16 points in the fourth quarter and went without a field goal, scoring just two points in the final 6:26.
“I just think we have belief,” Vucevic said. “I think we also were aware that we played really, really bad basketball in the first quarter, especially defensively. Giving up 45 points, literally putting no resistance at all. Even when the shots they missed, we didn’t rebound the ball, we didn’t do any of the little things. And a lot of those things were controlables — things that we we know we can do better than we’ve done. So the thing that that gave us believe that we can do it, and I think also, there are small pieces, when we did those things for a few defensive positions where we’re able to make small runs, that kind of gave us believe that we could do it.”
Using the power of momentum to their advantage, the Bulls chipped away at the 76ers lead. A pair of Isaac Okoro steals in the second quarter led to a quick four-point run. 12 fastbreak points in the third quarter helped cut into the deficit. Vucevic getting two late deflections on Embiid isolations kept the door open. Josh Giddey’s assault of the paint opened up the assist that sealed the win.
“Whenever you come back down 20 something and win the game, it’s big, especially against a team like Philly that has been playing great so far,” Vucevic said. “I think it just shows the resilience we have, the belief we have, the togetherness we have. But again, I think it’s also important that we understand this is not how you can you become a good team by getting down 20 and then waking up and start to finally play.”
No one predicted the Bulls to be alone at the top of the Eastern Conference at any point this season, let alone seven games in. They look like a better team. They’re playing a much more compelling brand of basketball. Importantly, they aren’t taking any victory laps — they’re well aware that they must focus on the process of perfecting their brand of basketball rather than the small sample of results.
“We’re not going to be a very, very good team if we just try to rely on running up and down the floor and shooting the ball and trying to get downhill and just spray it around,” Donovan said. “That’s part of the iteration, I think, for this group, is we’ve got to be more physical. And you saw the difference, right? You can overcome good shooting nights if you do a lot of other things.”
“It’s seven games into the year,” Donovan said. “Every coach in this league right now is fighting for consistency. And that’s what we’ve got to keep fighting for.”
