On Friday, the Chicago Bulls came up short against the Brooklyn Nets 112-109. As a result, they have a record of 19-22, and history is repeating itself.
In other words, the Bulls have virtually the exact record at this point during the season for the third time in four years, per Sam Smith of NBA.com. Afterward, Nikola Vučević recognized that reality by connecting it to the problem of injuries.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries, hard to judge,” said Vučević. “I guess we are kind of the same where we were the last four years, kind of the same situation. We’ve had some injuries, some games didn’t play as well…”
The Bulls managed to come back from a 20-point deficit to make it 100-98 with under four minutes left.
“Proud of the guys for continuing to play and battling to the end,” said Vučević. With 5.4 seconds left in the game, the Bulls trailed 110-109. Tre Jones inbounded the ball, and it was deflected by Drake Powell, resulting in a foul on Noah Clowney.
In the end, Clowney made both free throws, leaving Vučević to throw up a desperation shot from half court, but to no avail.
On Sunday, the Bulls will be back in Chicago for the rubber match against the Nets. At the beginning of the year, the Bulls surprised most with a 6-1 start. However, injuries, losing streaks, and inconsistency have brought them back to what they are used to.
Vučević, 35, has played in 40 games this year. He is averaging 17.0 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.
