The Denver Nuggets were just trying to get something positive from their three game road trip. After dropping the first two games of the trip, the Nuggets finally found themselves in the win column tonight with a victory over the Chicago Bulls but it was a bittersweet W. Nikola Jokic has a monster triple-double, Cameron Johnson made his return to the court and eight Nuggets overall scored in double digits. Unfortunately, Denver also suffered yet another injury to a key player, Jamal Murray left the game late with a lower body injury and immediately went back to the locker room. Denver finishes out the road trip with one win and two new injuries.
Both teams came out hitting threes but Denver had a little more success. They were getting out and running and Murray was leading their scoring effort. It slowed down after that for a little bit. Denver’s defense stayed strong but their lack of scoring kept the Bulls close. Jokic got the offense churning again and pushed the lead back up above a half dozen. After he went out the Bulls started pushing back and getting some buckets while the Nuggets missed some bunnies. Tim Hardaway Jr had a solid stint off the bench and kept the Nuggets in front with the quarter closing out. After one they led 39-36.
The Nuggets stayed clinging to their small lead early in the second quarter. They struggled on offense though and that allowed the Bulls to briefly go in front before Jokic and Hardaway restored order. On the other side Jaden Ivey was playing strong and didn’t let the Nuggets pull away, After he knocked down a corner three the Bulls were back in front 52-49 with half the quarter gone. The Nuggets weren’t hustling, the Bulls beat them to seemingly every loose ball and stayed in front. They couldn’t build much of a lead though, Julian Strawther was giving Denver quality minutes and the game stayed close heading down the stretch of the first half. It got sloppy at the end and Chicago took advantage. They built up a lead in the final minute and went to the half leading 65-59.
The Bulls got good looks from outside to open the third and knocked them down pushing the lead up to nine. Denver responded through Jokic, who passed Oscar Robertson for second all time on the triple double list while he teamed up with Murray for a couple shots. Strawther hit a three to follow them and put the Nuggets back in the lead. The Nuggets got running and forced some turnovers. It ended up being a 17-5 run and Denver was up four. Murray kept getting buckets which kept the Nuggets in front. Denver kept pushing and still held a small lead with a few minutes left in the third. Chicago pushed back, once again capitalizing on second chance points, and went up with just over a minute to go on a Collin Sexton three. Guerschon Yabusele hit a pair of threes after that as the Bulls were burning up the nets from outside. The poor close to the quarter by Denver gave Chicago a 104-97 lead after three.
Bruce Brown hit a couple shots to open the fourth which sparked a 12-0 run to get the lead back for the Nuggets. Chicago took a timeout suddenly finding themselves down five after Jokic hit Hardaway with a pretty pass for a layup. Denver kept pushing, Brown continued to play strong while Jokic and Strawther were hitting threes. Meanwhile, Chicago was absolutely abysmal on offense. They had just two points in the first five minutes of the quarter while the Nuggets lead went to double digits. The bench played strong midway through the quarter with Murray also still on the court. Jamal led the offense while Denver was trying to put the game away but Matas Buzelis was doing everything he could to keep the Bulls in it. Unfortunately, with about four minutes left Murray landed awkwardly and went back to the locker room clutching his groin area. Jokic came back in and put the nail in the Bulls coffin. He threw a classic one handed slinger to Braun, Denver got up eighteen with two and a half minutes and the deep bench checked in shortly after. Denver wins big, 136-120.
