Nikola Vucevic, Bulls use late charge to put away Pacers

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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.

Vucevic came up big with a season-high 36 points and 17 rebounds, to which DeMar DeRozan added 31 points to give the Bulls a 122-115 win over the Indiana Pacers.

"It's like people think he has this huge size advantage but I'm not really used to playing against smaller guys like that," said Vucevic, the 6-foot-11 veteran who only faced one defender taller than 6-7. "It was a lot of seals in the post so a lot of my points were easy. It's just a different look and different for me."

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Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic (9) moves to the basket in front of Indiana Pacers guard Terry Taylor (32) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

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 (back spasms).

Vucevic went 16 of 21 from the field, and had four assists and three blocks. That wasn't all.

"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."

The result: Indiana lost its second straight despite getting a season-high 42 points from Caris LeVert, who also had eight assists and five rebounds. The recently signed Terry Taylor finished with 21