The Nets got off to a rough start to their back-to-back against the Chicago Bulls, who just acquired All-Star Nikola Vucevic right before the trade deadline last month. Brooklyn had already won four of their last four outings and they of course wanted to extend it against Chicago, but Vucevic and Bulls had other intentions in the first half.
The Montenegrin star posted a double double at halftime with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Zach LaVine, the other All-Star on the team, was also in double digits as the Bulls ended the half shooting 55%. As for the Nets, they couldn’t really get the offense going, despite the efforts of LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin.
The second half was pretty much the same. The Bulls were unconscious from the field and eventually, Brooklyn could not keep up at all. At one point, their lead was at 18. The Nets cut it to single digits in the fourth quarter, but they didn’t have enough in the tank to finish the job. Vucevic finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds while Zach LaVine finished with 25 points and 5 rebounds. The leading scorer for the Nets was Irving, who ended the game with 24 points and 15 assists.
🎙 @SteveNash: "We didn’t play with enough pace. Not enough movement and activity."
🎙 @KyrieIrving: "We couldn't get as many stops as we needed tonight."
🎙 @blakegriffin23: "They hit shots when they needed to."
Postgame Quotes by @GEICO:
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) April 4, 2021