On Tuesday, the Chicago Bulls pulled out all the stops and came back from 24 points down to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers. What sealed the deal was a three-pointer by Nikola Vucevic with 3.2 seconds left, which gave the Bulls the 113-111 win.
The shot that ended The Process pic.twitter.com/AwrbL7VPxz
— 𝔻𝕖𝔹𝕒𝕝𝕝 (@WfromDeBall) November 5, 2025
Afterward, Vucevic was obviously joyful in triumph, but also provided some much-needed context, per Cody Westerlund of 670 The Score.
“It shows the resilience we have, the belief we have, the togetherness we have,” Vucevic said.
“It's also important we understand that this is not how you become a good team, by getting down 20 and then waking up and starting to play finally.”
Bulls head coach Billy Donovan expressed those same sentiments. Essentially, he was saying that they shouldn't have found themselves 24 points down to begin with. In the future, he expects them to clean up in certain areas.
“We've got to put our bodies in place,” he said. “We've got to be more physical.”
He also emphasized, “We've got to put our bodies. We've got to rebound collectively. Got to rebound collectively. We got to share the ball and we got to run.”
Bulls Coach Billy Donovan saying that despite Nikola Vucevics game winning, the Bulls need to play better all around
“We got to put our body in place. We got to be more physical. We got to collectively rebound. We got to share the ball and we got to run.” pic.twitter.com/9W0zkU8BZO
— Zachary Draves (@DravesZachary) November 5, 2025
As a result, Chicago is off to a 6-1 start. Currently, they are in first place in the Eastern Conference standings. A far cry from a team that finished 39-43 last year and fell short of the playoffs.
What's the secret behind the Bulls' early success?
Overall, the Bulls are a young team under slight pressure, given their position in the lower tier of the NBA. Essentially, they can rely on the best in each other and just go out and play.
In the process, they have seen some excellent early performances from players such as Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis.
Giddey is averaging 23.1 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 9.1 assists thus far. On Tuesday, he had a triple-double of 29 points, 15 rebounds, and 12 assists. Meanwhile, Buzelis is averaging 14.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
He finished with 10 points and five rebounds against the 76ers. Both have collectively led the backcourt at the outset without Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu.
Plus, their bench has stepped up immeasurably with Kevin Huerter, Jalen Smith, and Patrick Williams coming in to provide superb relief.
It's still a long season ahead, but so far, it couldn't be better.
