Until the Sacramento Kings visited Denver on Saturday and sensationalized it, it was M. Buzel and the Chicago Bulls who were responsible for perhaps the most unexpected defeat of the Denver Nuggets this season.
Last week, the “bulls” with Mata Buzel, who scored 13 points in that game, were not afraid of either Nikola Jokicius or lack of oxygen in mile-high Denver, and became the first visiting team to take a victory away from the Nuggets’ home (130:127).
Reuters/Scanpix photo/Matas Buzelis, Nikola Jokičius
It was also an eerie evening for J. Valančiūns: the Lithuanian, who is productively using few minutes this season, played only 4.5 minutes, during which he managed to score 2 points, but when he was on the floor, the Nuggets lost as many as 15 points to their opponents.
After the defeat, J. Valančiūnas tightly hugged M. Buzel, who had slapped him, but even without the performance that night in Denver, he already saw how much progress the 12-year-younger “Bulls” striker, whom he knew very well, had made this season.
The 21-year-old M. Buzelis, who started his second season in the NBA, almost doubled his indicators this season compared to his rookie season: points – from 8.6 to 14.1, rebounds – from 3.5 to 5.6, assists – from 1 to 1.4, blocked shots – from 0.9 to 1.4.
Reuters/Scanpix photo/Matas Buzelis
The productivity of the young expatriate Lithuanian is also reflected in the minutes he gets almost nine more this year (27.8) than last year (18.9).
M. Buzel’s successful game also contributes to one of the most successful starts for the Bulls in the last decade – the Chicago team, which has won 9 times in 16 games, is currently ranked seventh in the Eastern Conference, although since 2017 played in the playoffs just once.
J. Valančiūnas, who has known M. Buzel since childhood due to his close relationship with his father Aidus 15min was happy with the progress of the young striker, who calls John his “uncle”.
“He plays well. He works really hard, invests a lot of time in himself on the court and in training. You can really see that he worked a lot in the summer,” J. Valančiūnas emphasized. “It’s nice to see that he’s showing such basketball. And the Bulls are on the road to victory.” He started very well, after that a little bit of a pit, but now he straightened up again, I saw that he won today as well (the interview took place on Saturday night Lithuanian time – post.). Congratulations, happy for him. I’ve known him since he was little, it’s really fun to see how dude grew up Now he is one of the biggest avenues in the league – it’s really fun.”
He is now one of the top prospects in the league.
Despite the powerful performances of M. Buzelis across the Atlantic, the most important question in Lithuania remains when he will put on the national team shirt.
