INDIANAPOLIS — It’s not listed anywhere in the Serbian travel book, but who was going to argue with Nikola Vucevic?
“I think it’s pretty common for players from that whole region in general,’’ Vucevic explained after Monday’s win over the Pacers. “(Serbian-speaking athletes) use curse words quite a bit.’’
He would know. And now so would his Bulls teammates and coaches after Vucevic’s well-documented meltdown in the opening-night loss to Oklahoma City last week.
It was during, and after that game, that the big man played tour guide to just how many Serbian foul words he could drop.
Words that his teammates had no idea what they meant, but knew they weren’t going to be repeated in church anytime soon.
“He cussed us out in his language and it paid off,’’ teammate DeMar DeRozan recalled. “We didn’t know what he said but we said, ‘All right, we’ve just got to be aware and take advantage of our key players.’ ‘’
A mindset that was the difference for the Bulls in their most significant win of the early season — a 112-105 victory in Indiana.
Better decision making, especially when it came to taking advantage of mismatches thrown Vucevic’s way.
“I thought there were late switches in the pick and rolls and my teammates did a really good job of trying to find me and get me in positions where I could get good looks and also with offensive rebounds,’’ Vucevic said. “When there was a switch, (Pacers center) Myles Turner stayed with them. He contested the shot and I could follow with a smaller guy on me. Hopefully we keep playing like this we’ll give ourselves a good chance.’’
Case in point was a night in which Vucevic was able to go 10-for-19 from the field for 24 points, and add 17 rebounds – five of them on the offensive end.
And not one curse word uttered afterward.
“If you look at (Serbian tennis player Novak) Djokovic and all the championships he has, being the greatest tennis player of all time, and sometimes tennis matches don’t go his way, he gets upset and curses,’’ Vucevic said. “I think it’s part of our culture and it gets us fired up. Lots of times it gets me going. I know the people around me, it doesn’t sound as good.’’
That didn’t mean he was wrong.
Vucevic re-signed with the Bulls in the summer with the hope of being a bigger part of the offense. It had nothing to do with shots, but instead allowing his teammates to succeed by playing through him. And when he did get the occasional mismatch, finding him.
Against the Thunder, the very slender build of rookie Chet Holmgren was all that stood between Vucevic and the rim, but yet his teammates ignored it. That was one of the causes of the meltdown.
Zach LaVine admitted two days later, “That should have been a Vooch game.’’ Better late than never, and against the Pacers it was.
With Vucevic, DeRozan and LaVine each scoring 20 plus, the Bulls watched their record improve to 17-9 when all three reached that scoring plateau. What Vucevic was hoping for now was that blueprint being duplicated.
“We definitely haven’t played our best basketball, and to be at .500 is much better than if we were like 1-3 or 0-4,’’ Vucevic said. “Better to learn from winning than losses. It’s kind of positive we’re at .500 and haven’t played that well.
“So we know there is a lot of room for improvement. Are we going to improve and are we going to get there? That’s the question.’’
