Bulls Pull Off Shocking Win Over Denver Nuggets; Bulls Bench Dominates!

Bulls Pull Off Shocking Win Over Denver Nuggets; Bulls Bench Dominates!

The Bulls are just too funny, man. You can never predict what this team is going to do. I mean, coming off a bad loss like they had last night, a game they should have won knowing they were going to be heading into a second of back-to-back against the Nuggets, which most of us chocked up to as a loss. The game goes into double overtime. You know, the guys are going to be tired after traveling from Salt Lake. No Kobe White, no Trey Jones, and you instantly think, “All right, this is going to be a blowout.” at a minimum it’s going to be an L and the Bulls are going to blow the game in the fourth quarter and be handed their sixth straight loss. Like we all were thinking that, right? Or at least I did. I thought there was no shot this team was going to come into Denver after playing in doubleot last night and even despite going into the fourth quarter with the lead. To me, it was shaping up to be something that has become all too familiar where the opposing team stars take over and close out the game. It almost looked that way too at first because Jamal Murray started going off in the fourth quarter single-handedly bringing the Nuggets right back into the game. I believe he scored the first 12 points of that quarter alone and the Bulls doubledigit lead that they opened up with to start the fourth was completely evaporated. And because we’ve seen this so many times this season where guys like WBY, Giannis, Donovan Mitchell, Markin, they just take over and will their team to win even when the Bulls have played well. I thought there was no way though. not when they’re going up against the best player in the world who at that point hadn’t even entered the fourth quarter yet that this was going to go the Bulls way. Like I had fully mentally prepared myself for the loss, the heartbreaking loss and was ready to come on here and vent about it. But no, the Bulls proved me wrong. They made some mistakes and there were a lot of opportunities where they could have made things easier on themselves where they went cold from what 5 minutes down to 2 minutes. They were getting stops but they couldn’t convert on the other end. But in those final two minutes, the Bulls stayed locked in. They didn’t get flustered. They guarded the Nuggets best players and Joic and Murray well. Didn’t give them any easy looks. Boxed out and rebounded well. They kept their composure and hit some big shots. Veovich shot like garbage the whole night, but he decides to sink the biggest three of his season to put the Bulls up four with less than 30 seconds to go. Io had that huge steal and went down the other end for the dunk. Kevin Herurder hit that big three after the Bulls are absolutely cold from deep in the fourth quarter. Giddy IO Herder all got sent to the free throw line. All calmly knocked down both free throws. So yes, what made this win all the more impressive to me was the fact that the Bulls didn’t succumb to the superstar aura and let the opponent take over the game in the final minutes. That’s a big step for the Bulls because while they have played well, right, they start off the season well. And even in those games, some of the losses, right, they were good losses, like the ones against the Spurs and the Cavs, you know, because they still played well against some of the better teams in the league and just came up short at the end. The biggest knock on the Bulls in those games is that they can’t win without that guy. And the team that does have that guy has come out on top. Well, not tonight. The Bulls hopefully can ride that confidence now knowing they’ve proven to themselves that they can finish off these types of games and they’re not going to let stars outwork them. Give the Bulls credit, too, because when they came out in the second quarter and went on that massive run to take an 18-point lead, and the Nuggets within a matter of minutes not only erased that lead, but pulled ahead just before halftime, the Bulls could have gotten down on themselves. They could have mentally given up after a tiring game last night. But no, they came out of the locker room, came out with some newfound energy, and looked more prepared, energized, and more ready than the Nuggets did, where they put up 40 points in the third quarter alone, playing fast and out hustling Denver down the court. This was also a weird game too because when you compare the Bulls starters onoff numbers to that of the bench, it’s a stark contrast. All the starters in negative double digits and box plus minus. AOR had the best plus minus at minus 11 while the bench unit, every single one of them was in positive territory. The bench is what won this game tonight for the Bulls. And that’s not to take away from what the starters did because they’re the ones that closed out the game along with IO. But the energy level, the aggression, the defensive intensity, that was all the bench guys, guys that didn’t play as much last night, whose legs were a little fresher, they embraced the next manup mentality and took it head-on. Javon Carter doing Javon Carter things, came in and was redhot from deep, gave the Bulls a big lead in the second quarter, and then did it again in the third after the Bulls blew said lead. Jaylen Smith, Smith has actually been amazing off the bench for the Bulls this season. I don’t give him enough love, but he’s been nothing but solid for the Bulls. Hopefully that shoulder of his is okay that he was nursing Midame, but he was phenomenal in guarding Jokic this game and outworking him on the glass. Like if Smith can keep this up and you have Zack Collins coming back soon, I don’t know. But you got to find minutes for Jaylen Smith, even if it’s via a double big lineup because he’s actually producing. He’s actually contributing to winning and has been a big reason for the Bulls bench’s success. Smith finished the game with 16 points on six for 111 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and a plus 15 on the night. Hell man, even Dalon Terry and Julian Phillips gave some good minutes. Nice defensive plays, good hustle, smart passes. It’s not every day that I say I like what I saw from those guys. Uh Sen played for 13 seconds. Billy Donovan gave him his NBA debut for 13 seconds right before halftime. That was weird. And then I of course I your six man of the year over here. Not only the 21 points on 8 for9 shooting and a team high plus 25, but of course that big steal and throw down dunk to give the Bulls the lead in the final minute. Amazing game from IO. An amazing game from the Bulls bench unit in general who outscored the Nuggets bench by like 45 plus points. The Bulls have actually outscored their opponent’s bench unit in every game this season except for just one game. The Bulls depth has low-key been their secret weapon, something they have not had in recent years. Now, what was impressive to me in this game is that the Bulls, playing one of the best teams in the league, who were 10-2, who were on a seven-game winning streak going into tonight, held them to just 48 points in the paint for a team that ranks third in the league in points per paint per game. The Bulls only turned the ball over nine times and only conceded six points off said turnovers, their lowest output of the season. Conversely, the Bulls only forced eight turnovers to the Nuggets, but they capitalized on those turnovers, turning 15 points out of those. And for a Bulls team that struggles to get it more shots than their opponent and going up against a top three defensive team in the Nuggets, they somehow managed to get up 102 shots and shoot 47%. They got up 53 threes in this game in regulation. Not that all those were good shots, but they were flying down the court getting as many possessions as possible. And despite the Nugget size, they matched their physicality on the offensive glass, allowing the Bulls to get a lot of second chance points. Josh Giddy, great game. 21 points, 8 for12 shooting, 14 rebounds, six assist, four offensive rebounds, most of those coming in the fourth quarter, hustling for the board to give the Bulls another chance. Kevin Herder finally shot the three ball well. Four for nine from deep, 20 points for him. Vuvich, yikes, uh, three for 13, but hey, he hit that big one when it mattered most, hitting that three with the shot clock winding down and the Bulls never gave up the lead after that. Modest didn’t shoot the ball especially well, but was active on the defensive end, was cutting to the basket, setting hard screens. I like what I saw from him, too. Uh, so how about that? The Bulls are back to being above 500, baby. They snap that fivegame losing streak to the most unlikely team, who was one of the hottest teams in the NBA going into tonight. Let’s see if the Bulls can keep it up as they head to Portland to take on the Blazers for a late one on Wednesday night. Let me know what you guys thought of the game tonight. Let me know in the comments. As always, be sure to subscribe and I will see you in the next one.

Reacting and recapping the Bulls upset win over the Denver Nuggets

NBA Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UCikoP0pxZTRqNp9XgMJlIqQ

Sign up for Underdog Fantasy with Promo Code [Bulls Central] to get a Special Pick in the lobby AND up to $250 in Bonus Cash on your first deposit: https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-bu…

Discord: https://discord.gg/NCnTQFZkkj
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bulls.central.official/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BullsCentralYT

#ChicagoBulls #BullsNation #joshgiddey #isaacokoro #matasbuzelis #cobywhite #nikolavucevic #PatrickWilliams #AyoDosunmu #BullsNews #NBANews #NBARumors #BullsUpdates #BullsRumors #NBAFreeAgency #BullsTrades #NBATrades #NBATradeRumors #nikolajokic