INDIANAPOLIS — 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.”
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 points, 14 rebounds and five assists.
Vucevic wasted no time making his presence felt. He was already nearing a double-double midway through a first quarter, when the Bulls scored 40 points and led by double digits.
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.
It didn’t last long.
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.
The Bulls finally seized control with a 10-0 run midway through the fourth, capped by Ayo Dosunmu’s 3 with 4:52 left to make it 110-98 and the Pacers never got another chance to tie the score or take the lead.
“It’s a disappointing result but there’s plenty of good things going on,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “We’ve just got to stay in the fight while we’re undermanned.”
TIP-INS
Bulls: Vucevic has 29 double-doubles this season. … DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in 39 of the 47 games he’s played this season. He also had five rebounds and seven assists on Friday. … Javonte Green scored 16 points while Dosunmu finished with 15. … Chicago won the final three in this season’s four-game series and had a 43-37 rebounding advantage on Friday.
Pacers: LeVert produced one of the most dominant performances in his career in his 299th start. … Dwayne Washington Jr. had 17 points and Chris Duarte added 12. … Reggie Perry played 10 minutes less than 24 hours after signing with the Pacers and arriving in Indianapolis. … Goga Bitadze, Malcolm Brogdon, Isaiah Jackson, T.J. McConnell, Myles Turner and T.J. Warren were all out with injuries. Domantas Sabonis is in the health and safety protocols.
PAYING TRIBUTE
Before the game, Carlisle honored Hall of Fame coach Bill Fitch, who died Wednesday at age 89.
“He cut me from my last NBA team and offered me my first coaching job — in the same phone call,” Carlisle said. “Anytime someone sees you and believes you and gives you that first opportunity, that’s very special.”
Fitch did more than give Carlisle a start. He was Larry Bird’s first coach in Boston, Phil Jackson’s coach at North Dakota and, Carlisle recalled, Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson’s coach in baseball and basketball at Creighton.
UP NEXT
Bulls: Host Philadelphia on Sunday, seeking its first win against the 76ers in three games.
Pacers: Visit Cleveland on Sunday.
JAZZ 125, NETS 102
SALT LAKE CITY — Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points in his return from a concussion that sidelined him for eight games, Bojan Bogdanovic added 19 points and Utah routed short-handed Brooklyn.
Utah scored for first 10 points in its third wire-to-wire victory of the season to send the Nets to a season-high seventh straight loss.
Mitchell shot 8 for 10 from the floor and had six 3-pointers and six assists in 22 minutes.
Brooklyn rookie Cam Thomas had a career-high 30 points. The Nets were without James Harden (hamstring), Kevin Durant (knee), LaMarcus Aldridge (ankle) and Joe Harris (ankle).
CAVALIERS 102, HORNETS 101
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kevin Love made two free throws with 1.2 seconds left and scored 25 points and Cleveland held on beat Charlotte.
Jarrett Allen had a career-high 29 points and 22 rebounds, and Love scored 22 of his points in the second half as the Cavaliers overcame a bizarre technical foul on bench player Ed Davis with 4:44 left in the fourth quarter.
Davis, who was on the Cavaliers’ bench in warmups and never played, interfered with Terry Rozier’s 3-point attempt by swatting at his arm, apparently thinking the play was over. Replays appeared to show a whistle had blown before Rozier attempted the shot. Davis was whistled for a technical. However, officials credited Rozier with a successful 3-pointer — even though the ball never went in — and he made the free throw for the technical, cutting the Cavaliers’ lead to six.
Terry Rozier scored 24 points for Charlotte.
MAVERICKS 107, 76ERS 98
DALLAS — Luka Doncic had 33 points, 13 rebounds and 15 assists for his 44th career triple-double as Dallas rallied from a 16-point, second-quarter deficit and beat Philadelphia.
The game was delayed 44 minutes midway through the first period when one of the rims was determined to be crooked.
Reggie Bullock scored 20 points, including two clutch 3-pointers down the stretch, for Dallas. Jalen Brunson added 19 points for the Mavericks, who snapped a two-game losing streak.
Joel Embiid had 27 points and 13 rebounds for the 76ers, who have lost two straight games for the first time since a three-game skid in mid-December. Dallas native Tyrese Maxey added 18 points.
RAPTORS 125, HAWKS 114
TORONTO — Pascal Siakam matched his season high with 33 points, Fred VanVleet had 26 points and 11 assists and Toronto beat Atlanta for its fifth straight victory.
The Raptors also beat the Hawks 106-100 in Atlanta on Monday night.
De’Andre Hunter and John Collins each scored 23 points for Atlanta, and Trae Young had 22 points and 13 assists. Atlanta is 8-2 in its last 10, losing only to Toronto.
Both teams were playing the second night of a back-to-back. Young was coming off a 43-point performance Thursday night in a 124-115 home victory over NBA-leading Phoenix.
SPURS 131, ROCKETS 106
SAN ANTONIO — Keldon Johnson had 28 points and San Antonio punctuated Zach Collins’ return from a nearly two-year absence with a victory over Houston.
Collins had 10 points to help San Antonio snap a three-game skid. The 7-foot former Gonzaga star had not played an NBA game since Aug. 15, 2020, with the Portland Trail Blazers. He had two operations on his left foot over the 10 months and signed with the Spurs in the offseason.
Josh Christopher had 23 points for Houston.
CELTICS 102, PISTONS 93
DETROIT — Jayson Tatum scored 24 points in 28 minutes and Boston beat Detroit for its fourth straight victory and sixth in seven games
Boston held Detroit to a season-low points total in the first half, leading 46-31 at the break.
Hamidou Diallo had 21 points and 14 rebounds for Detroit, The Pistons lost for the seventh time in eight games.
THUNDER 96, TRAIL BLAZERS 93
PORTLAND, Ore. — Luguentz Dort had 23 points and Oklahoma City held off Portland for its first three-game winning streak since December.
The Thunder trailed by as many as 10 points in the third quarter but closed the gap in the fourth and pulled ahead 88-82 on Josh Giddey’s basket with 5:45 left.
CJ McCollum and Anfernee Simons led Portland with 19 points apiece. Portland was short-handed after trading Norman Powell and Robert Covington to the Los Angeles Clippers earlier Friday for Eric Bledsoe, Justise Winslow, rookie Keon Johnson and a 2025 second-round pick.
PELICANS 113, NUGGETS 105
DENVER — Herbert Jones scored 18 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, Brandon Ingram had 23 points and 12 assists and New Orleans sent Denver to its third straight loss.
Jaxson Hayes added 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Pelicans.
Denver’s Nikola Jokic returned after a one-game absence with a sore toe and had 25 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, but was limited to 10 shots.