By Antigoni Zachari / info@eurohoops.net
Nemanja Bjelica is earning ground and the trust of his teammates as the Golden State Warriors continued picking up wins with a strong 111-99 victory against the Los Angeles Lakers on the road on Tuesday.
“I didn’t know Belly could make plays like that off the dribble. I had no f-cking clue”, said Draymond Green prior to the game, praising the Serbian power forward.
“Then I’ve been spending a little bit of time with him, and he’s like ‘Yeah man when I was overseas and won EuroLeague MVP, that’s what I was. I made plays, I shot the ball, that’s what I do,’ “ Green added. “I was like ‘I didn’t know you can make plays like that’ “.
And for a good reason, as Bjelica is turning out to be an important part of the Warriors‘ rotation. He signed off with 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists in just 17 minutes in the win over the Lakers.
Bjelica, 33, is on to his sixth NBA campaign with career averages of 7.9 points per game in the league. He signed a veteran’s minimum contract with the former champions back in August. Despite being a traditional big, Green doesn’t deem it us a disadvantage for the Warriors in this case.
“We don’t really play traditional basketball, so when he’s getting in the paint he can either finish or you have somebody rotating, then you can make the right play. That’s good to see because he can still have those opportunities. With him making plays like that, it will be good”, he mentioned.
Photo: Golden State Warriors / Twitter