Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic perfected Friday’s simple game plan.
With the undersized and short-handed Indiana Pacers missing their top four post players, coach Billy Donovan asked him to dominate the middle.
He looked poised throughout the night, posting his second straight 30-point game while helping the Eastern Conference’s top team win for the fourth time in six games despite playing without injured All-Star Zach LaVine ."I was really, really impressed with what he did at the rim tonight," Donovan said. "He had a couple of really good blocks and he made some guys miss some shots as well.
But the Pacers closed to 65-62 at halftime and finally took an 86-85 lead on Lance Stephenson’s shot-clock beating 3-pointer with 2:57 to go in the third quarter.DeRozan answered with two free throws and a 14-footer, Vucevic drove the lane for a dunk and Malcolm Hill’s basket closed out an 8-2 run that helped Chicago retake a 93-90 lead.