Denver returned home from a three-game road trip to their new City Edition Rainbow Skyline Court and a tussle with a feisty Chicago Bulls squad. After a surprisingly hot start to the season, Chicago stumbled into Monday night’s game having lost five in a row, including a double-OT heartbreaker in Salt Lake the night before. The Nuggets were riding high, winners of seven in a row after a statement win on the road against their nemesis to the far north. The young, run, and gun Bulls had enough left to give the shorthanded Nuggets more than they wanted.
Both offenses got off to a sluggish start. Watson found a couple of quick buckets while Murray and AG failed to convert on feeds in the paint. After a blocked Cam Johnson 3 found its way back to Gordon for a wide-open net ripper, the Nuggets led 11-4 after 5 minutes. The teams traded bricks from deep, prompting AG to bully into the lane and convert for his 10th first-quarter point. Back-to-back Murray and Johnson threes grow the Nuggets’ lead to 22-16 with 4 minutes left despite starting 1/5. The Bulls closed out the quarter with a flurry of threes including an acrobatic fadeaway by Devon Carter, then another, to give the Bulls the lead at 30-26 on 7/12 shooting from behind the arc.
With the bench starting the 2nd, Chicago extended its run and lead. Jalen Smith hit the Bulls’ 8th three, ballooning their lead to 35-28. Jonas then got called for an offensive foul driving across the paint, which the Bulls capitalized on with Carter’s third triple, prompting an Adelman timeout. Continuing to look like the fresher and more motivated team, the Bulls scored the next five, giving them a 43-28 lead after 13 unanswered points. Murray finally stopped the bleeding with a three but was immediately matched on the other end, forcing Adelman to take a second timeout in as many minutes.
Jokic returned to the game at the 8-minute mark along with Jalen Pickett and Cam Johnson, who tried to turn up the intensity with two straight aggressive drives leading to Bulls’ fouls. A Pickett three cut the Bulls’ lead to 54-41 before Jok took charge with back-to-back layups and a soft feed to AG who capped the 15-6 run at the rim.
As Murray checked in for Pickett, Jokic hit a second free throw then Gordon added an exclamation point by running over Matas Buzelis for the and-1. With 2:52 left in the half, Murray’s jumper over Vučević closed the gap to 56-53, followed by a monster step-back three, bringing Ball Arena to their feet and the Nuggets back to even from 18 down. CJ gave the Nuggets the lead with a corner three, his second of the half. Watson then went Superman for a block at the rim, leading to a third Johnson triple, again from the corner. After a pair of AG free throws, the Nuggets hit the locker room up one with Joker one assist short of yet another triple double.
Neither team could extend a lead for the first nine minutes. Cam continued to find his stroke after the half, hitting his fourth three. The Bulls then scored six straight as the Nuggets’ defense fell lifeless. More Gordon bully ball in the lane stemmed the tide, as his 22nd point gave the Nuggets a 79-75 lead at the halfway point. The Bulls kept the pressure on with a Vuc three followed by a Giddy layup to swing the lead back in their favor. Chaotic play was capped off by another Carter three and a 90-85 Bulls lead with 3:15 left in the quarter. A head-scratching no-call on a Hardaway Jr. drive followed by a soft and-1 on the other end against Jokic led to Coach Adelman earning his first tech of the year as the Bulls lead grew to 95-85.
The intensity continued to build as the 3Q came to a close. After another no-call on a Jokic post-up, THJ and Bruce gave a hard foul in transition that was ultimately deemed a flagrant. The Bulls’ layup drills continued before Jokic got fouled and hit two FTs, then two more, slowing down the frenetic pace. After a Nikola put-back and two Ayo Dosunmu freebies, the Bulls went into the fourth with a 103-93 lead thanks to a 41-point explosion in the 3rd.
The Nuggets battled back to start the fourth as Murray took control. His two threes were capped off with an aggressive drive in transition leading to an and-1 and cutting the Bulls’ lead to 6 with 7:30 left. Another push off a long rebound gave Murray two more FTs and his 28th and 29th points. Some sloppy play followed, but Jok found Watson at the basket for his 12th assist, cutting the lead to 112-108 with under 6 minutes left. The MVP-frontrunner then spun and bodied his way to a layup before finding Cam for his fifth(!) three, closing the lead to 1.
At 116-115, Nikola aired a jumper and Murray missed an open three, fatigue taking its toll on both teams. Murray finally converted on a nifty drive around Vučević on the baseline but was quickly countered by a Giddy floater. Play then stopped to review a Jokic three, which was confirmed, giving the Big Man 32/18/13 and the Nuggets the lead. Huerter matched the triple, followed by a sloppy Murray turnover and breakaway dunk for Dosunmu, rebuilding the Bulls advantage to 123-120 with 1:04 left.
The bigs then went to war to close out the game. Jok hit a turnaround jumper over Vuc with 0:51 on the clock despite not getting another borderline foul call. On the ensuring possession, Jokic stripped the other Nikola, but the Bulls retained the ball after review, leading to the biggest shot of the night, all but sealing the win for the Bulls:
Jokic was given a concession bucket, but with just 20.9 seconds left, the Nuggets were forced to foul and hope for a mistake that never came. Murray’s final three got them within one, but Huerter sank both of his FTs and the Nuggets’ chances for a comeback.
FINAL SCORE: Bulls 130, Nuggets 127
The Nuggets head out on the road for the next two, playing the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. followed by an NBA Cup game in Houston on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
GAME NOTES
- Julian Strawther did not play despite the Nuggets being shorthanded
- The Bulls bench outscored the Nuggets’ bench 66-9
- The Nuggets were 3/13 on transition opportunities
