Bulls make things difficult for themselves again but still pull out victory

SALT LAKE CITY — Bulls center Nikola Vucevic knows uncertainty all too well.

That’s why he refuses to swim in those waters. He’ll dip his toe in, maybe even the whole foot, but if his 13th season has taught him anything, it’s lock in on what’s immediately in front, deal with the peripheral tomorrow.

“It’s about focusing on the present and doing all I can to help this team win,” Vucevic reiterated Wednesday.

The present for him was doing all he could in the Bulls’ 119-117 victory against the short-handed Jazz, then turning his attention to Thursday and a game against the Warriors. Beyond that? No thanks.

But as the Jazz game reminded Vucevic and his teammates, little comes easily for the Bulls (30-32).

With just over nine seconds left, the Jazz fouled DeMar DeRozan right next to the Bulls’ bench, and things quickly got heated. Torrey Craig — who was in street clothes — said something in the direction of Collin Sexton. Utah’s John Collins didn’t like it and went after Craig. Assistant coach Chris Fleming and Collins put their hands on each other, and chaos ensued.

When the officials watched the replay, they awarded Jordan Clarkson the technical free throw to tie the game and give Utah new life. DeRozan then made his two free throws, but Utah was now a three-pointer away from winning rather than tying.

Clarkson missed the three with 7.2 seconds left, but Coby White’s rebound try took him out of bounds. That left Sexton with the opportunity to play hero. He was given a wide-open look when it appeared Alex Caruso was grabbed and fell down, but Sexton missed.

“I saw DeMar get fouled,” coach Billy Donovan said. “I think Torrey said something. They obviously came over. Chris Fleming was trying to hold everybody off to kind of separate, and then from there, it kind of escalated.

“I don’t look at it from a Utah situation at all. I look at it from our situation, and we’ve got to be better in those moments in my opinion. Not only did we lose a point on a technical foul, we also iced our free-throw shooter.”

In most cases, maybe, but in the fourth quarter of close games, DeRozan is ice.

“Not at all,” DeRozan said when asked if he felt the delay iced him. “Just wanting to win. I wasn’t thinking anything else.”

Considering DeRozan scored 17 of his 29 points in that fourth quarter, there were actions behind those words.

As for Vucevic, he finished with a workmanlike 23 points and 12 rebounds.

The Bulls now have 20 regular-season games left. It would be one thing if they were a top-four team in the East and most of the core was locked into multiyear deals, but that’s far from reality. Vucevic knows that they’re one bad week from slipping out of a play-in spot and six weeks away from the front office having to change the direction of the franchise if things don’t play out like executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas is hoping.

What Vucevic won’t be doing no matter how this season ends is rocking the boat on being elsewhere. While he does have winning an NBA championship on his priority list, it doesn’t go above loyalty.

“When I sign a deal, I like to stay committed to that,” Vucevic said of the three-year, $60 million free-agent contract he signed last summer. “You never know what’s going to happen with this team. They have a lot of decisions to make this summer. That will be on them to decide what happens. Who knows, they could trade me, as well. You never know. But I’m not really thinking about those things.

“When the summer happens, then you focus on that. There’s a lot of uncertainty with this team and a lot of questions that need to be answered, guys that need to be dealt with, but we’ll see after that. As far as me personally, I signed a contract, I feel comfortable here, and I feel like there’s room to improve, and I want to be a part of it.”

He played like that in February, averaging 22 points and 11.4 rebounds in 10 games, and he knows he needs to give more over this final push.

The good news for Vucevic and his teammates is they will have the eighth-easiest schedule in the NBA remaining, so a play-in spot looks like a lock.

Better news for the Vucevic big picture? Even if the remaining season does go south, he’s sitting on a contract that will be difficult to move until the next trade deadline or the summer of 2025.

By then, who knows what this Bulls’ roster will look like or how good it could be. Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu have made big-time jumps this season, and even Vucevic wouldn’t be surprised to see the two guards become foundation pieces to build around.

“I’ve really been enjoying watching it, especially for Coby and Ayo,” Vucevic said. “Coby has been here for longer than I’ve been here, and that first year when Zach [LaVine] was out, Coby and I played really well together, and he’s a guy I have a lot of respect for. He brings it every day; he’s a competitor. He works his butt off every day before practice, really committed. Same for Ayo. He came in the second round, got his chance and has really taken advantage of it.”