The Chicago Bulls are off to a solid start this season, but Nikola Vučević was not happy with the overall effort during Saturday’s 121-120 victory over the Washington Wizards.
“For three quarters or whatever, we were very soft,” he said in a postgame interview while also expressing frustration with his teammates’ celebration. “We gave no resistance. We didn’t do anything that we talked about.”
The big man continued in the locker room after the game and said, “We just didn’t play up to NBA standards” while revealing he addressed the team.
“I don’t think we understand that it’s just not sustainable to play this way,” he said while also highlighting he was upset because the shortcomings were “things that we can really control.”
Chicago’s defense was nowhere to be found in the early going as it gave up 41 points in the first quarter alone against a Wizards team that fell to 1-15 with the loss. To the Bulls’ credit, they scored 40 points in the first quarter to make sure they were well within striking distance even while playing such poor defense.
Neither team reached the 30-point mark in any of the final three quarters, but Chicago still found itself behind by six points entering the fourth.
Vučević also hit two key three-pointers down the stretch as the home team battled back, the second of which gave the Bulls a five-point advantage. But Washington came back to take a one-point lead before Tre Jones hit what proved to be the game-winning free throws with 34 seconds remaining.
Vučević led the way with a double-double of 28 points and 12 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive end. He also shot 12-of-20 from the field and 3-of-7 from deep.
Offense wasn’t a problem for the victors, but Vučević’s concern was with the defensive side. That was more of the same for Chicago considering it ranks 20th in the league in defensive rating (116.6) on the season, per NBA.com.
Despite the defensive woes, the Bulls are still 9-7 on the season and have won three of the last four.
If they can play better defense moving forward, they could be a factor in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
