Common sense would dictate that it was just another night in the NBA regular season.
The Bulls left Coby White (left ankle), Patrick Williams (left foot) and Lonzo Ball (injury management) back in Chicago on Thursday, while the Spurs opted to rest star-in-the-making Victor Wembanyama with lower back soreness.
Not exactly a fair trade-off considering the the Spurs’ second-year center is the early season leader for Defensive Player of the Year, but not out of the norm.
A conspiracy theorist might say something more was going on in the 139-124 Bulls’ victory at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio in which Ayo Dosunmu recorded his first career triple-double (27 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds) and Nikola Vucevic put up 39 points.
The loss dropped the Spurs to 11-11 on the season. Nothing to see here. But what felt like a gift-wrapped win for the Bulls improved their record to 10-13 and continued to propel them toward the middle of the NBA standings.
Why should the Spurs care?
They still are owed a first-round pick from the DeMar DeRozan sign-and-trade back in 2021, and will get the 2025 selection if the Bulls finish out of the top 10. Oh, by the way, it’s a selection from a 2025 class that is loaded with talent, starting at the top with Duke’s Cooper Flagg.
The Spurs also have the Hawks’ first rounder, as well as their own, so they could be a very interesting organization come June.
Not that the current Bulls players could have cared about draft assets and lottery positioning. What coach Billy Donovan’s crew knew was that without 7-3 human flyswatter Wembanyama protecting the rim, it was a fight to get in a layup line, especially early on.
Dosunmu went 4-for-4 in the opening 10 minutes, with three of his baskets coming at the rim. Dalen Terry came off the bench for six quick points at the rim, and then there was Vucevic, who found very little resistance in the paint and continued playing at an All-Star level.
As the Bulls have done more frequently during the last few weeks, the game plan was to establish Vucevic early. That meant the big man used his opening eight minutes of work to go 3-for-4 in the paint.
When the horn sounded at the end of the first, the Bulls not only had a 36-22 lead but earned 22 of those points from inside the paint.
Vucevic was just getting started, scoring 26 more in the second half and doing so on 10-for-13 from the field.
“I don’t think people understand how hard the dude works,” guard Zach LaVine said of Vucevic and the season he has put together. “We all made sacrifices with me, DeMar, Vooch all came together [in 2021], we all took a little bit less of our game and tried to do better for the team, but Vooch took the biggest back seat through the years. But he still worked his ass off, through ups and through downs.
“Vooch is an All-Star, helluva international player. This isn’t a guy who just is some regular dude in the NBA. Vooch is a top guy. To see him continue to improve his game, try to adjust it for the team, and now showing how efficient [he is]. I appreciate his hard work and how much he dedicates to the game.”
That dedication has showed up the last six games, with Vucevic scoring 20-plus in four and adding in two 30-plus games. That’s why his teammates have searched him out.
“With Vooch he has to rely on some of the guards, but I do think Josh [Giddey], Lonzo, and as Ayo has played more with him, and then Zach, I think they have an understanding of where and when to get it to him,” -Donovan said.