The Chicago Bulls played spoilsport for the Los Angeles Lakers, who saw LeBron James return to the court way ahead of schedule with a foot tendon injury.
The Bulls won emphatically on the night in LA but had to go through adversity. Starting center, Nikola Vucevic was ejected from the game after consecutive technicals after a call. Bulls head coach Billy Donovan is still shocked at the call.
“I was surprised because I don’t know how they can ‘T’ him up when he’s talking Serbian. I think he may have asked them if they want to go out to dinner (Sunday) night possibly. In the moment that you’re sitting over there, it almost appeared to me that it was bang-bang technical fouls. And in talking to (official) Tony (Brothers) — and I got a lot of respect for the crew there — they felt like there was enough of a delay after the first one for him to step away. And he didn’t. I don’t have any problem with the officials in the moment.” (h/t NBC Sports)
The Bulls needed this win to have some hope of making the playoffs this season in what has been an extremely disappointing season. Vucevic is a core tenet of what the current core is looking to achieve, so pulling off a win without him on the floor for most of the game was very impressive.
The Bulls Have Renewed Hope
The ceiling on the outcome of this Bulls season is very low. Not many expect them to upset one of the top seeds in the East by sneaking their way in through the play-in. they are currently the 10th seed but looking to earn the 8th seed at the least, only half a game behind the Atlanta Hawks.
Vucevic had seemingly given up on their chances this season, but they’re using their recent momentum to add wins to the board. They’re bound to lose their first-round pick in the trade to acquire Vucevic in 2021 to the Orlando Magic, so avenues to improve the squad in the summer are low.
Vuc is also a free agent, so a lot of tough calls await the Bulls in the summer. In the meantime, they’d like to at least go back to the playoffs for a second season in a row.
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