By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Debuting with the hometown Chicago Bulls in the 2024 NBA Preseason, Lithuanian-American Matas Buzelis logged ten points in twenty minutes.
Shooting 3/8 from the field combined with five rebounds, three assists, one block, and one steal. His side edged out the Cleveland Cavaliers, 116-112, in Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Tuesday.
“Felt great,” reacted the youngster, the 11th pick of the 2024 NBA draft, “Little things to work on and learn, but overall I think it was pretty good. The main thing for me is to win the game. Glad we won. Had a couple of mistakes down the stretch, but we got it done.”
“I thought he was really good,” added head coach Billy Donovan, “He is active, he runs the floor, he is aggressive, he is physical. He is going to get stronger. There are things he made mistakes on, which you expect. But overall I love his mentality.”
Starting at the center position, Montenegrin Nikola Vucevic posted a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double. Turkish Onuralp Bitim added two points.
Preseason in Oceanside and East Lansing
Croatian Ivica Zubac with six points and four rebounds and French Nicolas Batum behind three rebounds, helped the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Brooklyn Nets, 115-106, in Oceanside’s Frontwave Arena. For the Nets, German Dennis Schroder piled up ten points, five assists, three rebounds, and two steals.
In East Lansing’s Breslin Center, the Phoenix Suns took down the Detroit Pistons, 105-97. The losing side featured Italian Simone Fontecchio and British Tosan Evbuomwan packing eight and four points, respectively.
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