NIKLOA VUCEVIC WITH HIS SECOND GAME WINNER OF THE SEASON TO GIVE BULLS THE WIN OVER PORTLAND

NIKLOA VUCEVIC WITH HIS SECOND GAME WINNER OF THE SEASON TO GIVE BULLS THE WIN OVER PORTLAND

You have found yourself on another edition of Locked on Bulls. On today’s episode, we got to talk about the Chicago Bulls win in dramatic fashion. On top of that, I’ve got to lose my mind for a second. And then we got to talk about can the Chicago Bulls stop blowing leads? All that and more on today’s episode of Locked on Bulls. Let’s go. You are Locked on Bulls, your daily Chicago Bulls podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Thank you for tuning in to another edition of Locked On Bulls, member of the Locked On Network, where it’s your team every single day. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to fanduel.com to get started. Thank you guys for tuning in to another edition of Locked On Bulls, the number one sports podcasting network in the world right now. Shout out to Locked On for that. You can’t be mad at that. Uh, we got a lot to get into on today’s episode as the Chicago Bulls find a way to win big in this game versus the Portland Trailblazers. Listen, as you can see, I I didn’t even go upstairs, comb the hair, nothing. I’m I am stressed. I am hype. I am losing my mind. I can’t believe what we just saw in this 1221 win over the Bulls. to me. Let’s start off with the finish and work our way back. Um, I thought that Billy Donovan called a heck of a play to finish out the game. Uh, I thought that the Chicago Bulls did a great job creating in this game. I thought that they truly uh found opportunities offensively for most of the game where they needed to. I thought there were some really good out-of- bounds plays and that to finish the game off, finding Vouch wide open to get the dub. Great shot. And Vouch coming through in the clutch is something that you can’t hang your hat on. But am I going to sit here and say that it’s not something that I appreciated in a great way? No, I’m not. I I thought that it was a phenomenal uh performance to finish the game by Nikovich, and I was very excited by it. Um on outside of that though, there’s a lot of problems that you that I do have with this game. Um and the the biggest one being you got out rebounded 64 to 38. This is a game the Bulls should have lost 100%. Did a game they did? No. And sometimes that’s going to happen in an NBA season. And where we’re at right now, that’s okay. It is not the end of the year. It’s not the the the finish to a season. It is not there’s a lot of basketball left here to play. And so I’m okay saying, you know what, this is a game the Bulls shouldn’t have won, but they found a way to do that. They found a way to do so. They found a way to put themselves in a position to stay in this game. There’s a lot of question marks that I have on how the Bulls played tonight. But at at a minimum, and and the biggest thing about this is to me, am I going to sit here and say that Billy Donovan called the best game? No. I thought I mean like you you leave here with challenges in your pocket. you leave here with timeouts in your pocket. Like, what are we doing? But when it came down to it, you found a way to put yourself over the top. And you know what? That’s something that early on in the season I am okay with. Um, now the Bulls sit at 8 and six with a very favorable schedule moving forward. And I think that’s going to be the biggest thing for this team. Uh, finding ways to continue to attack this schedule. This is a game that I felt like the Bulls would win, but I did feel like it would be very close in this manner. And now when you talk about some of the things that you saw, I think, listen, if you’re a Bulls fan right now and you see how Kobe White is playing, he was five for 17 in the game, 52% from the field, 55% from the three-point line. Most of his shots came from the free uh free throw line or I’m sorry, the three-point line. He got to the free throw line multiple times. And to me, I thought that there was a very skewed decision on how some of these foul calls were going to be made here in this game. And so, you didn’t see the Bulls get to the line nearly enough in this game. But I did think that there was a lot of opportunity for this Bulls team to take over and to win this game. I mean, at one point, you led by 21. You led by 21. And so it it does suck uh how this game went down in the fourth quarter. But to me, the biggest finish that you have to take from this is you’ve got a team that’s finding a way to be clutch in some of these clutch moments. Not all of these clutch moments. We know there have been some really big misses from this Bulls team overall, but in some of these clutch moments, you’re finding a team that is finding ways to make some of these tough shots. And that’s the biggest thing that you can ask for. And I’ll be honest with you, um this was not a good day for the Bulls overall. And when you can come through and find ways to win these games, these are the ones where you say, “Okay, you won that one. You put that one in the bag. Now, how do you go out there and you beat uh the Pacers? How do you go out there and you beat Orlando again? How do you go out there and find ways to beat these playoff teams that you have beaten yet again?” I know a lot of people are going to look at this game and say, “Oh my god, I can’t believe that the Bulls were ever down in this game. I can’t believe that they lost this game. I I not almost lost this game. I can’t believe that they put themselves in a position where the Portland Trailblazers could have beaten them. But if you’re saying that, you haven’t watched this Portland team. This Portland team is incredibly talented. This Portland team, Danny Aia, is another name in the I mean, how many players are we saying now that are in that PEL draft that is completely surpassed Patrick Williams? Like to me, the fact that you were able to pull this game out on a I keep saying this. I said this when I was doing a live call. On a Portland team that I’m not going to lie to you, with every game they continue to play like this, they indict uh uh Chanty Bips just a little bit more. Just a little bit more. Not crazy, but just a little bit more. To me, these are the games that you have to find ways to win. Uh, and the Bulls outplayed Portland in a ton of ways. I mean, the biggest thing that really set you behind was second chance points and offensive rebounds. The Bulls got out rebounded today 26-7 on the offensive glass. They got out rebounded in totality 64- 38 in total. Like, there’s a ton of mistakes that this Bulls team made and yet you’re talking about them coming away with the win. That is something massive. That is something big. And I am I gonna sit here and say that you can build your season off of that? No. But sometimes that’s how you got to win games in this NBA. Let’s not sit here and pretend like we haven’t watched this Bulls team win games like this before. Let’s not pretend that we haven’t watched championship Bulls teams win games like this before. The Bulls found a way to pull this one out and I’m not going to be grudging. Does that mean that I feel great about this game? No. As you see, the second topic is a pat ring. And maybe this whole show is a Patrick, but right now what I love, 11 for 19 from Nikolus. And what I will say is this, a big shot to finish the game, but I thought Vu gave you a lot throughout the entire game. There’s a lot of people that are going to say, well, Vu couldn’t out rebound Donovan clinging. Well, you know what? That goes into the rant. Give me a second. I’ll get there. But overall, the fact that Nico Levous had this bounceback game, 11 for 19, 5 for9 from the three-point line, uh, shot 60, shot 55% from the three. To me, that is a very different conversation that you’ve talked about with a guy like Nikolovich over the last couple of games. I mean, throughout this losing streak, you have looked at him and said, “He is a player that has helped you lose games.” Me and Hayes have talked about it on this show. He’s somebody that has helped you lose games more times than he has helped you win games. So, the fact that you saw this bounceback effort versus a guy like Donovan Cllingan who bowled out tonight, seven for 13, he had uh 17 points. He had 21 rebound. 21 rebounds. Again, give me a second to get to the rant. I’m glad that this is a solo episode. I truly am because There’s a lot of anger in me today. And yet again, another game where the Bulls had one, two, three, four, five players go into double digits. Need to see a little bit more from some of them. Might as well. Bad, bad, bad, bad. What words y’all want to What would you like me to use? Let me let me let me Google something real quick. Let me see. How to say bad in different languages. Uh let’s see in Arabic I believe it is say in Chinese it is buho in Danish it is darling in uh Dutch schle in Finnish uno in French malvis. Malveus maybe Malveus in German. Schle in Greek. I I got nothing for that one. In Italian. Uh in Norwegian. Narleague. What language you want me to put it in? Muselis is playing terrible right now in Japanese. Wu. What language do you want me to say it in? Everybody, if you speak a different language, comment in the comments right now. That’s how Misellis is playing. Like, wake up. And I said this during the live call. You want to show off the bag work. You want to show off the bag work, but you don’t want to go out there and show off the dayto-day fundamentals that made you a good player last year. Shout out to you for getting some bag work. But if we’re talking about fun, I’m getting into the rant. I’m getting into the rant. I apologize. Let me take my time. Second segment is going to be me losing my mind. But first, we do have to get into a couple of sponsors on this show. Number one being Quo. Let’s talk about something every business owner knows too well, Miss Calls. when a customer tries to reach you and can’t get through that money slipping away. Quo spelled quo is smarter uh is a smarter way to run your business communications so you never miss an opportunity. Quo is the number one business phone system built for 2025, not 1995. Disrespect to the year after I was born. It’s simple, modern, and designed to help communicate faster, look more professional, and stay connected wherever you’re working. Listen, I love Quo right from an app on your phone or computer. No extra devices, no clunky landlines. Your whole team can share one number and collaborate on calls, texts, like a shared inbox, which means customers get help faster. Try Quo for free at quo.comba. That’s qo.com/lockton NBA. And yes, you can even keep your existing number. quote, “No missed calls, no missed customers.” We also got to tell you guys all about rouette. Let’s be real. Making excuses doesn’t solve anything. We’ve all heard every single one of them before. It’s just stress. I’m tired or it happens sometimes, but when it comes to performance, sometimes your body just needs a little bit of extra support. And that’s where Rouia comes in. ruia.com offers fast acting doctor prescribed treatments for ED designed to help you stop making excuses and start making moves. Rouia, it is easy to get started. You just connect with a board-certified doctor 100% online, no awkward waiting rooms, no in-person appointments, and if prescribed, your treatment ships directly and discreetly to your front door. Visit rouad.com/lockdornba to get 15% off your first order. That’s r u g iet.com/locked on NBA. And don’t forget to use our code locked on NBA so they know we sent you. Rouette, stop making excuses. Start making moves. More locked on Bulls coming up next. Welcome back in to Locked on Bulls. Appreciate you guys for tuning in and showing love. As always, hit that like button, subscribe to the page, leave a fivestar view. Y’all know what to do. All right. Where where does the rant begin? I’ll tell you where. I’ll tell you where. [Music] I don’t know what it is about our tourist carnage show, but if there is a game ever that a team that I am in charge of, rooting for, wanting to dominate, gets out rebounded 64 to 38. I am immediately looking at everyone tall on my team and saying, “Why do you exist?” I try not to do this very often because you know what? Sometimes it’s just a bad game. But how many years in a row does it take for the center position on your team to look like a bunch of fried turds on the boards for you to finally go, you know what? Maybe we need to add to the center position. We may just have to add some tall people to the game of basketball. I don’t know if you know this or not, but for the love of God, I need you AK to understand this. Tall people matter. In basketball, the hoop is 10 ft tall. The goal is to put the round ball into the round hoop. You played this game professionally at some point in your life. Why don’t you understand that tall people matter in the game of basketball? There was an entire lineup of 6’8 and up people today who were outworking you at every point. There was an entire lineup of people who were just bigger than you. I get it, right? Rebounding is a want to. Rebounding is is an effort thing. I get it. Dennis Rodman, we watched it. It was phenomenal. You know what the problem is? If you got five Dennis Rodman’s on your team who are all too small going up against five Victor Wimbeyamas, you might lose the battle. I don’t understand it. I don’t get it. You’ve had opportunity after opportunity to draft tall people on your team. You know what? You continue to pick guards every single draft. Or maybe in this year’s draft, you did draft a tall dude. In this year’s draft, you drafted somebody who might be above 6’9. You know when that dude’s going to play? 2035 because he has to develop in the GLeague. He’s not NBA ready once again. I don’t get it. It’s like AK looks at a center and goes, “Why on God’s green earth would I ever want that tall guy to play on my team?” Because he can’t move. You know who moves pretty well? Donovan Clingan, 7 foot3, 280b, 21 year old Donovan Cllingan who gave you 21 boards and 17 rebounds today. I don’t get it. I don’t understand it. It makes no sense. It’s like you didn’t play the game. It’s like you don’t get that if you’re closer to the hoop, it’s easier. I’m not telling you go get freaking uh uh uh guys that can’t move. I’m not telling you to go out there and sign dudes who just don’t have an abil who are who are literally tall Shreks. I’m not telling you to go get Cristiano Felicio. I’m telling you to draft people who are tall in basketball. Am I the only one that feels like I’m losing my mind watching teams just reach over every player and go, I got the ball. Am I the only one who thinks it’s insane that AK thinks that it doesn’t make a difference if you draft dudes that are closer to the hoop with skill set? That’s my problem because there’s so many dudes that have come out who have a skill set. There’s so many dudes that have come out of this draft. It’s not like I’m saying go draft a big oath. I’m telling you to draft dudes that are available to you. You passed on Walker Kesler. You passed on Danny Wolf. Danny Wolf’s not getting any minutes right now. So, how do we know what he is? Because he’s got to be better than a player who you don’t feel can play on the roster right now. I was going to have a whole another conversation about the the the Listen, I don’t know. I I’m sorry, y’all. That irritates my soul. You gota out rebound to 64. That’s not effort. 64 to 30. That ain’t effort. 64 to 36 38. It’s not effort. It’s not effort. It’s not effort. There’s no amount of effort that makes up for 20 plus rebounds. That means you don’t have the size to do it. And by the way, I don’t know if you’ve noticed the NBA lately. I don’t know if you’ve noticed the Eastern Conference lately. Size pause. Big shout out to Rei Matters. Hey man, got to get to this final topic talking about can the Bulls stop blowing leads. Um, but first we do got to tell you guys all about our sponsors. Uh, we got a couple of more for you. We got Skiims and FanDuel coming your way. We’ll talk about those two coming up next. 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Hit that like button if you have not done so. Subscribe to the page. Lead a fivestar view. Y’all know what to do. Uh finishing off, can the Bulls stop blowing leads in the fourth quarter there? Chicago Bulls got outscored 39-24. And this seems to be a theme for this Bulls team finishing out seasons. It’s a big problem that the Bulls have right now. And to me, honestly, there’s there’s a real conversation on who the rotations are utilizing here in the fourth quarter. Now, am I going to sit here and say that Jaylen Smith needed to be used more? I feel like there was something sparingly happening there uh where you didn’t want to use him. But let’s be real, we can talk about everything that we want to talk about when you can only play Modis Buzzella’s three minutes in the fourth quarter when you can only play your guy that you thought was a star. guy that you thought was going to take a next step. Three minutes even in the fourth quarter and he takes one shot. That ain’t a star. You don’t have a player. And maybe that guy is Kobe White. Kobe White got a ton of run in the fourth quarter. He was two for six, one for two from the three-point line. Had six points in the fourth quarter. did not have a great game there as he uh had a negative eight plus minus with some of the scoring that happened there. But like I’ll be honest with you, we’re to a point right now where if you’re looking at this Bulls team and you’re not saying, “Hey, why can’t I play this young guy that we thought was going to be a major piece in the fourth quarter, you you don’t have a major piece. you don’t have a big name. You’re hoping that at some point you have somebody who turns into a solid player for you. But if you’re looking at the third quarter and going, there’s no way that we could play modest mousellis in these minutes, that is unacceptable. That’s unacceptable. And I know we want to look at Billy and say, “Oh my god, well, he has to put him in, and the fact that he didn’t put him in is a Billy problem.” No, it’s not. You haven’t built the trust of your coach who wants to give you the trust. You haven’t built the trust of your coach who literally in games where no one was left had to bench you because you were playing like a fried turd. So, why would I trust you? Why would I think that you can make plays? Why would I think that you have the talent to go out there and help us put this game away? You haven’t shown it when I’ve given you every single opportunity. And I know y’all keep saying this in the comments. Pat, you’re being too hard on Modest. He’s a young player. No, I’m not. This is the kind of game that he wanted to come into the season with, and I’m tired of him. I said this during the live call. Mus Ellis right now is playing like sunshine. Y’all remember Sunshine? Y’all remember the iconic line that Denzel Washington said to him and remember the Titans? You can pitch it a mile, but you can’t throw it 5 feet. I’m sorry. I said that back. You can throw it a mile, but you can’t pitch it 5T. Musel’s got all the bag work. You see him come through one dribble over the top. Boom. Lei. Tough lay. Big play. Boom. Love it. Modus Buzzellis has the handle. Modus Buzzellis has the height. Modus Brousellis has the ups. None of that matters if you can’t make the simple play to move your feet defensively. None of that matters. If you can’t make the simple play to set a screen and pick and roll offensively, none of that matters. If when I throw you the ball, you don’t have the confidence to use that bag work in the moments when I need you to use it most. Right now, that is my biggest beef with this team. This team looked for a player all off season that they thought was going to have huge impact. By the way, this is normal in the NBA. It’s not shocking when when young players This is what young players do. Guys Modest’s age right now are leading teams in the NBA. Oh, but he’s young. He’s got to figure it out. Figure it out. figure it out. You don’t get the excuse of eventually it’s going to happen. You know what usually happens? When eventually it’s going to happen, it doesn’t happen. You flexed all year about the bag work and now I’m not seeing the basic fundamental. That’s what I want you to get back to. I want to see you be the guy who would let guys get past you so that you could chase down block them again. I want to see you be the guy who was cutting to the basket no matter what because a shot went in the air. What happened to that dude, the workhorse, the guy that said, “Hey, if that ball’s up, I got an opportunity to go get it because I can out jump everybody that’s on this floor and that means I could be a putback jam. What happened to that dude? That’s the modest bisellas I want to see on the floor again. I love the bag work. Show it off when you need to show it off. When it’s a one-on-one opportunity and you need to go cook somebody, cook them. But the thing that I loved about Kobe Bryant, the thing that I loved about Michael Jordan, the thing that I loved about Demar De Rozan is when I didn’t need to cook you, when I just needed to go to something consistent, I had a basic two dribble pullup that I could dominate you with. That’s fundamental. That’s what I want to see Modus Bales get back to. and I haven’t seen that start the season. There’s a long way to go. Hopefully, this team kind of figures some things out. Uh I am loving um the fact that we are eight and six out of this stretch. I am not loving how we have gotten to the eight and six over the last eight games. So hopefully we find a way to win some more games. Appreciate y’all for tuning in and showing love. As always, hit that like button, subscribe to the page, leave a five star review. Y’all know what to do. It’s your boy Pat the designer back at it again. Thank you guys for tuning in to Locked on Bulls. As always, y’all stay safe out there Chicago. See you right now. Stand up. Peace.

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