Nikola Vucevic played a key role in the Chicago Bulls' 130-118 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night, pouring in 24 points while also notching 17 rebounds, six assists and four blocks. Vucevic hit four triples as well, making him the first player in NBA history to hit all those benchmarks in a game.
The Bulls big man was told about this feat afterward, but he completely downplayed it. As cool as it is to put up a historic stat line like this, it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.
Via NBC Sports Chicago's K.C. Johnson:
“It’s nice to hear,” Vučević said via Zoom from Atlanta. “But when it comes to those stats, I feel like you can make up a stat with anything nowadays.”
“I feel like stats in general should be like five, 10, 15, 20, 25 games. So it’s consistent,” he said. “Obviously, it’s hard to find the same exact stat as I had. 24 is random. 17 is random.
“It’s nice. Obviously, I’m glad I played well and I was able to have a good all-around game to help us win. But as far as that, it’s nice but I don’t necessarily care to be the only player to do it.”
It had to feel good for Vucevic to play so well, especially as he hit a number of big shots in the fourth quarter. It has been an up-and-down season for the Bulls star, with some very low lows. He has been looking better lately, though, and Chicago is hoping he'll provide more consistency moving forward.
The Bulls center is hoping for this too, but he ultimately doesn't care about these arbitrary stat lines. He just wants to do whatever it takes to help Chicago win games. The Bulls are winning a lot of games, sitting at 21-10 on the season for second place in the Eastern Conference. They're looking dangerous with this much-improved roster, and Vucevic playing at an All-Star level will help them reach their ceiling.
Follow Us
Subscribe