Bulls center Nikola Vucevic was a man possessed.

Every time the Bulls needed an answer Sunday against the Warriors at the United Center, there he was.

Vucevic produced inside and beyond the three-point arc and exploited the Warriors in one-on-one isolation situations, matching his career high with 43 points to lead the Bulls to a 132-118 victory that ended a three-game losing streak. He added 13 rebounds and four steals for good measure.

It was a positive prelude for the Bulls’ eight-hour flight to Paris, where they will face the Pistons on Thursday.

”We came out and competed from the beginning,” said Vucevic, who was 18-for-31 from the field, including 5-for-10 from three-point range. “Beginning of games have been a big issue for us, and [today] we came out and played really well.”

Vucevic scored 12 points in the first quarter, helping the Bulls open a 17-point lead early. But they gave up that comfortable margin after a second quarter in which they were outscored 42-24.

Aside from those 12 minutes, however, the Bulls played consistent defense. They got into passing lanes, which led to 12 steals and 18 points in transition. And with the help of Vucevic’s career afternoon, the Bulls outscored the Warriors 56-34 in the paint.

”They made runs,” Vucevic said. ”They’re a very good team. We sustained them and were able to finish the game off in a really good way.”

With forward DeMar DeRozan missing his third consecutive game with a strained right quad, the Bulls needed a big performance from Vucevic and a strong showing from guard Zach LaVine.

LaVine’s three-point shot wasn’t falling — he was 1-for-8 from deep — but he was able to get to the rim. He shot 12-for-14 from the free-throw line and finished with 27 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Vucevic has produced a double-double in every game in January. The one Sunday was his ninth in a row going back to the Bulls’ loss to the Cavaliers on New Year’s Eve. He also had one triple-double during that stretch.

”It’s got to be a team effort to slow [Vucevic] down and connect the game,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. ”It seemed like they had seven or eight stampede fast breaks that ended up in layups or dunks. And that’s because of poor offensive possessions, either on difficult shot attempts or turnovers.”

The Warriors allowed 31 points off 23 turnovers. Klay Thompson led them with 26 points, and Steph Curry added 20.

The Bulls’ game Thursday against the Pistons will mark their third in Paris. They played two preseason games in the French capital in 1997 — in the midst of their second three-peat.

Vucevic, however, declined to compare this Bulls team to those led by Michael Jordan.

”I don’t like to compare the greatest era of basketball to anyone, but it’ll be fun to be back there,” Vucevic said. ”Paris is a great city. Fans really love the game of basketball there. They’re really into the NBA, and I think the Bulls will have a huge following because of the ’90s Bulls.”

The Bulls headed straight to the airport from the United Center, and everyone’s plans for the flight varied.

Coach Billy Donovan answered the question about his plans quickly.

”A lot of film,” he said.

LaVine said he would indulge in some red wine.

After his big game, Vucevic wanted to curl up with a good book.

”Take some melatonin, read my book, and I’m hoping to get a good six or seven hours of sleep so I can wake up refreshed there,” Vucevic said.

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Bloom junior Santana Flowers and sophomore Elijah Lovemore have shared long bus rides all season. There have been countless practices and school days, so many hours to dream of the moment that finally arrived on Sunday at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights.

“Santana and I are really close off the court,” Lovemore said. “We’ve been talking about how our time is going to come for a while now.”

It came in one of the Blazing Trojans’ biggest games of the season. Flowers and Lovemore stepped up in place of three key missing players and led Bloom to a 60-55 win against Mount Carmel.

Jayden Watson, a 6-7 senior, and 6-5 Jaden Clark are both out injured. Blazing Trojans coach Dante Maddox is hoping they return next week. Michael Garner, a 6-7 senior, was away this weekend on a football recruiting visit.

Bloom lost to two ranked teams, Kenwood and Lincoln-Way East, earlier this week. But Flowers and Lovemore teamed up to take down the highly regarded Caravan and end the team’s challenging stretch on a high note.

Flowers, a 6-5 wing, scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

“Santana is a warrior,” Maddox said. We have been talking this last week about guys stepping up and being stars in their role. Santana and Elijah have both embraced that. So, we’ve been able to fight through this situation.”

Lovemore is emerging as one of the area’s best sophomores. He finished with 10 points and seven assists.

“I knew from the beginning of season that for us to be the best we can be Elijah was going to have to take the lead as the point guard at some point in the year,” Maddox said. “We’ll be playing through him for the rest of the year.”

Lovemore, 6-2, transferred from St. Laurence to Bloom over the summer. He says point guard comes naturally to him.

“I love those moments, being the guy to make everybody else succeed,” Lovemore said. “I feel like I was born for that. I’m built for that.”

The Blazing Trojans (13-5) took control with a 16-0 run in the second quarter. Mount Carmel star DeAndre Craig, a Denver recruit, only scored four points in the first half. He threw up twice in the locker room at halftime and apparently felt much better in the second half.

“In the fourth quarter [Craig] tried to take over the game in an unselfish way to help us claw back in the game and give us some spark on offense,” Caravan coach Phil Segroves said.

Craig scored 11 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter as Mount Carmel pulled within four on several occasions and cut the deficit to three in the final 13 seconds.

Bloom shot 8 of 13 from the free-throw line in the final three minutes, good enough to hold on to the win.

“We needed this,” Maddox said. “What we need to get better at has nothing to do with the beginning of the game. It has to do with making free throws and making good decisions at the end. If we do, we can play with anyone in the state with the way we play defense.”

Senior Raeshom Harris and sophomore Payton Edwards each scored nine points for Bloom and Jordan Brown contributed with five points, five rebounds, three steals and three assists.

Senior Anthony Ciaravino led Mount Carmel (17-2) with 19 points and his brother Angelo added nine points and five rebounds.

The Caravan’s last loss was Nov. 25 against Oak Lawn.

“That loss helped us win four or five big games,” Segroves said. “If we can take this loss today and build off this it is well worth it.”

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You probably haven’t heard, but the Cubs don’t have Willson Contreras around to play catcher anymore.

Yeah, it’s a real bummer.

Splitting time behind the dish will be veterans Tucker Barnhart and Yan Gomes, which is about as exciting as a pair of 10-year-old cleats. Are they good on defense? Sure, they are. Are they good with pitchers? That’s what everyone says. But Contreras was a star and, as was clear throughout his long goodbye last season, the team’s most popular player.

“Is it a big loss? Absolutely,” Gomes said. “But I think we’ll be OK. We have a tremendous team, and we’re going to focus on our team now.”

Boring might not be such a bad thing for the Cubs, whose defense should be their biggest strength. And a hidden plus for this team will be the very presence of Gomes, 35, who now has an opportunity to step into more of an overt leadership role. A one-time All-Star who was the Nationals’ No. 1 catcher when they won the World Series in 2019, Gomes is interested in managing someday and reminds skipper David Ross of a former Cub who famously made an impact as a positive influence.

“There are moments where I think, ‘Man, Yan reminds me of me,’ ” Ross said. “He does things and I think, ‘Oh, that’s something I would have done.’ “

Gomes isn’t a “Grandpa,” but he should have all the juice he needs with teammates after they heard him introduced to fans at Cubs Convention as a fourth-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Ten years ago, Gomes was early in his career and newly signed to a sponsorship deal with Mizuno when he approached the veteran Ross, a Mizuno brand ambassador, and complimented him on his slick No. 3 cleats as a way of introducing himself.

“I was like, ‘My cleats do not look like that,’ ” Gomes said. “I asked him for a pair of his.”

It arrived the next day in a box at Gomes’ locker — and is displayed to this day with the rest of Gomes’ baseball memorabilia at his home.

“I was just a backup to [the Braves’] Brian McCann at the time,” Ross said. “I appreciated him for that, that he admired my cleats and maybe how I went about my business.”

It just so happens the two men wear the same size, and don’t you know what that means? Gomes can walk in Ross’ shoes if he wants to.

THREE-DOT DASH

The Jaguars threw three first-quarter interceptions, committed five first-half turnovers, fell behind 27-0 and won a playoff game.

See? It’s not that hard. The Bears already are perfectly capable of executing the first three of those steps. …

OK, so the Jags’ 31-30 victory against the Chargers was a total stunner. Consider: The last team to turn it over five times before halftime in an NFL playoff game — the 1999 Dolphins, also in Jacksonville — lost 62-7. Slightly different outcomes. …

Has brand-new Cub Trey Mancini homered yet? Because I’m not waiting long to make the first “Boom Boom” crack. …

No pressure on young Dominican prospect Juan Uribe Jr., who reportedly was signed by the White Sox. All the shortstop has to do now is eventually make it to the big leagues and field the final out of a World Series like his pops did in 2005. …

After falling into an 0-3 hole in Big Ten play, Illinois has won three straight and re-established itself as a likely NCAA Tournament team. Northwestern, on the other hand, is 1-2 since beating the Illini in Evanston and might not be long for the middle of the conference pack. …

My latest college basketball AP Top 25 ballot: 1. Houston, 2. Purdue, 3. Alabama, 4. Kansas, 5. UCLA, 6. Texas, 7. Gonzaga, 8. Virginia, 9. Tennessee, 10. Iowa State, 11. Kansas State, 12. TCU, 13. Xavier, 14. Arizona, 15. Clemson, 16. UConn, 17. Miami, 18. Auburn, 19. Baylor, 20. Marquette, 21. Illinois, 22. Michigan State, 23. College of Charleston, 24. New Mexico, 25. North Carolina.

THIS YOU GOTTA SEE

CBB: Purdue at Michigan State (1:30 p.m. Monday, Fox-32): First place in the Big Ten is on the line. That would be a mighty big deal even if 7-4 sensation Zach Edey weren’t involved.

Cowboys at Buccaneers (7:15 p.m. Monday, Ch. 7, ESPN): If an under-.500 division champion led by a 45-year-old quarterback doesn’t scream “Super Bowl possibility,” what does?

Bulls at Pistons (2 p.m. Thursday, NBCSCH, NBA TV): Two of the Eastern Conference’s worst teams meet in Paris. Perhaps they can stay there?

ONLY BECAUSE YOU ASKED

From Raymond, via Twitter: “If the Bills and Chiefs meet for the AFC championship, shouldn’t their neutral-site game be in Chicago? The weather is similar, and we’re midway between Buffalo and Kansas City.”

Late-January football at Soldier Field? Will there be flying pigs, too? We’d better leave this one to Atlanta.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

Tobacco Road: Blue-blood rivals Duke and North Carolina are tied for seventh place in the ACC. In basketball, no less.

Jerry Reinsdorf: Is it too soon to rip him for calling off the 2024 SoxFest?

Asante Samuel Jr.: If the Chargers’ cornerback had any pride, he wouldn’t have stopped at a measly three interceptions against Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars.

Mike McDaniel: Don’t worry, the beleaguered Dolphins coach will have that fourth-down play called any day now.

The NFL: No matter how great the early playoff games are, they’ll never make “Super Wild Card Weekend” not sound ridiculous.

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Taking a look at Chicago Cubs prospect, first baseman Matt Mervis.

As the brunt of the 2023 MLB off-season is in our rear view window and the Cubs have done their moves this off-season it’s time to take a look at the future, prospects that can make an impact in the next year or two. We’ll review each prospect whose projected eta according to mlb.com is 2023-24.

First name on the list is a prospect that gathered a lot of buzz after his 2022 campaign. Matt Mervis, the 24-year-old first baseman Cub prospect, became a must watch prospect after clubbing 36 homers and hitting for a .309 batting average after rising through three levels in Cubs farm system. While finishing in third in homers for the minor leagues, Mervis also led the league in RBIs with 119. Creating a lot of excitement for the north siders as a potential middle of the lineup threat.

Matt Mervis signed as a undrafted free agent with the Cubs in 2020, after going undrafted in the five-round MLB Draft. Coming out of Duke University, he posted a collegiate career slash line of .281/.384/.461 and an OPS of .845, belting nine homers in the process.

After signing with the Cubs, Matt Mervis went on to make his pro-debut in 2021 with the Low-A level club, Myrtle Beach Pelicans, and finished the year with nine homers and 44 RBIs. After the year, he exploded on to the scene with his 2022 campaign and a league-leading 119 RBIs. 

Mervis made even more noise after an impressive display in the Arizona Fall League, he was selected to play for the Mesa Solar Sox. He was chosen as the Arizona Rising Stars MVP, an Arizona Fall League Fall Star, and was named the 2022 Fall Stars Game MVP. He posted a slash line of .291/.344/.655, and led the league in home runs with six.

“Mervis may hit the ball consistently harder while limiting swings-and-misses better than any other Cubs prospect. He’s tapping into his well-above-average raw power this year thanks to improved swing decisions and a more direct path with his left-handed stroke. His bat speed and the strength in his 6-foot-4 frame are his most obvious attributes, but he also has some hitting ability and a decent approach.” – MLB.com

Matt Mervis is entering the 2023 spring training with Opening Day roster aspirations. While the Cubs seemingly filled their first base role after the Eric Hosmer signing, Mervis seems to be in the plans for the immediate future. MLB.com projects him as a platoon player behind Hosmer, but if the power translates well Mervis could be a solid option to replace the hole that Anthony Rizzo left on the right side of the infield.

As of today, he is scheduled to compete in the World Baseball Classic tournament representing Team Israel. Facing some strong competition will be a good preview to see how he would fare with Major League talent and see how handles the pressure of a big stage.

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