The Denver Nuggets’ seven-game win streak came to an end on Monday, losing to the Chicago Bulls 130-127, despite erasing multiple big leads.
The Bulls, who had lost five in a row and played a double overtime game on Sunday in Utah, were the aggressor and kept their energy for much of the evening. They surged to an 18-point lead early before losing it all, and took another double-digit lead early in the fourth quarter on the back of a 41-point third period. Jamal Murray buoyed the Nuggets by scoring 13-straight to start the fourth quarter, but a few miscues in his hero mission, as well as some easy looks his teammates normally make that didn’t fall, doomed Denver.
While the Nuggets did get 30 balls from both Murray and Nikola Jokic, who recorded his eighth triple-double of the season, it was the bench battle that wrote the story. The Bulls played all 12 active players, got points from 11 of them, and had their bench outscored the Nuggets’ backups 66-9. It was a new look for Denver there. David Adelman moved Tim Hardaway Jr. back to the bench and started Peyton Watson in place of the injured Christian Braun. Cameron Johnson rejoined the first five as well.
This left Adelman searching a bit, switching between playing Spencer Jones, Jalen Pickett and Jonas Valanciunas, who each played 10 minutes and had rough stretches. Hardaway characterized the bench’s struggles with a minus-19 on the night.
“I thought they were their aggressor most of the game, just by the way they played,” Adelman said. “The defense is one thing, you can’t go 3-for-13 on fast break opportunities. And it had a game where that team plays up speed and fast and gives you all these chances — 14 points is not enough in the fast break category.”
Still, the Nuggets had a shot at the end, a Jokic heave after the team had used all its timeouts. The shot fell short, a similar story to earlier in the evening when the Nuggets just struggled to get over the hump. They had and failed three times to tie the game or take the lead in the middle part of the fourth quarter. The Nuggets made their breaks but just couldn’t secure them.
“Shots were short, we were not getting back, we made some mistakes where we weren’t matched up after free throws. Just mental things that just kind of add up and eventually sometimes they beat you,” Adelman said.
And Johsnon finally got right, hitting five threes and scoring 19 points.
“In a win and a loss, you can find things and grow as an individual and as a team,” Adelman said. “Tonight as an individual, it was a good night for Cam.”
The Nuggets fell to 10-3 on the year, while the Bulls ended their five-game losing streak.
What’s next for the Nuggets
The Nuggets head to New Orleans for a Wednesday matchup with the Pelicans, who just fired their head coach. After that, it’s the third-place Rockets in Houston for an NBA Cup game on Friday. They’re back in Denver on Saturday, hosting the Kings.
