DETROIT — The advertising screens lining the scorer’s table at Little Caesars Arena still bear the memory of Nikola Vučević’s frustration.
Vučević held it in for two quarters. But as he headed into the locker room after shooting 4-for-11 in the first half, the center aimed a single kick at the sideline table. One panel of the lengthy screen positioned in front of CHSN broadcasters Stacey King and Adam Amin carried the brunt of the damage, remaining black for the rest of the game.
The veteran center has been known to whip a towel at the bench or flip a middle finger at an opponent or growl at his teammates to go away during walk-off interviews. But Wednesday’s 108-93 loss poked at an exposed nerve of dissatisfaction that has been slowly peeled back throughout this 17-20 season.
“It was just some of the mistakes I was making,” Vučević said. “Just me personally. I wasn’t doing a good job matching up with the physicality. Some of the shots and mistakes that I made — it was just frustrating.”
Vučević is frustrated. At age 35, he’s being asked to shoulder one of the heftiest workloads of his entire career to pick up the slack for injured teammates Jalen Smith and Zach Collins. And he’s tired — of losing, of getting left on an island on the low block as his teammates struggle to help off the ball. But the center can’t funnel that frustration into productivity. He’s not fast enough to contest on the perimeter, not strong enough to body up on younger centers down low. His 2-point shot isn’t falling.
Wednesday’s game embodied the dichotomy of Vučević’s role on the Bulls. The center supplied a quarter of Chicago’s points and rebounds against Detroit. He also fumbled against the physicality supplied at scale by the Pistons.
The Bulls can’t survive without Vučević. He represents one of only four or five viable playmakers on the roster currently healthy enough to play every night. But the Bulls also can’t win with his current rim protection — a brutal futility that hangs over the veteran throughout every game.
The Pistons were designed to vex Vučević — particularly Isaiah Stewart. A stocky 6-foot-8 and 250 pounds, Stewart gobbles up matchups against lengthier bigs like Vučević who rely on their touch and mobility in the paint. The center entered the game with a clear aim to bowl Vučević over — and he succeeded, scoring 31 points while missing only two shots from inside the arc.
The final box score didn’t reflect the fitfulness of Wednesday’s loss — after all, Vučević finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds as the second-highest scorer on the Bulls roster.
But for long stretches of the loss, Vučević couldn’t engage on defense. He bickered with teammates like Dalen Terry when the Pistons carved wide-open drives to the rim. The center didn’t even come off his feet when the Pistons began to lob passes over the top to Stewart, who was eager to launch himself out of the dunker spot for the easy finish. And Detroit ultimately outlasted the Bulls due to their ability to overpower in the paint.
This was an underpowered outing for both teams. Cade Cunningham (right wrist contusion) and Jalen Duren (right ankle sprain) missed the game for the Pistons. In addition to Josh Giddey, Collins and Smith, Coby White was sidelined for Wednesday’s game, which is the first night of a back-to-back that will conclude with a home game Thursday against the Miami Heat.
Although the guard said he felt strong after a workout Tuesday, the medical team opted to hold White out for an additional day of rest with the aim of playing in Chicago. He missed three games prior to Monday with a flare-up of a lingering calf injury that has sidelined him for 19 total games this season.
Here are three takeaways from the loss.
As the Bulls seek new outlets of production amid their injuries, Ayo Dosunmu has been a rare source of stability off the bench. He continued that buoyant support in Wednesday’s loss, scoring 24 points on 10-for-15 shooting against the Pistons.
The Bulls offense stagnated with the loss of White and Giddey, a fact clearly reflected in the team’s struggles to break 100 points for the last three games. For the foreseeable future, Dosunmu’s versatility will be key for the Bulls to sustain playmaking. He lifted the tempo in the open court, went 4-for-6 from behind the arc and forced the issue at the rim.
Despite their lack of success this season, the Bulls can stay competitive in almost any matchups by limiting two statistics: turnovers and opponent offensive rebounds.
The Bulls kept pace with the Pistons in the first three quarters by matching Detroit in points off turnovers (11) and second-chance points. The Pistons strive to operate as a hive mind on defense, swarming after the ball with prolific pressure that results in turnovers. Detroit ranks third in the league in steals per game (10.2) and second in opponent turnovers (17.2).
Maintaining possession under this pressure reflected a crucial victory for Chicago in the opening 36 minutes of the game. But the Bulls allowed seven points off five unanswered turnovers in the fourth quarter while also giving up five second-chance points, a quick succession of mistakes that helped the Pistons carve out a double-digit lead.
Although it wasn’t enough to fully deter the Pistons offense, Matas Buzelis showed off his defensive timing with an onslaught of four blocks. On his final block, Buzelis knocked a shot by Paul Reed deep into the backcourt in the third quarter, then sprinted after the loose ball to knock down a 3-pointer before a single Pistons player could make it across half court.
Buzelis entered Wednesday’s game ranked 12th in the NBA in total blocked shots (48) this season. His four blocks against the Pistons moved him into the top 10 in the league.
