The Chicago Bulls came into town and defeated the Denver Nuggets, without reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, by a final score of 114-108. The Bulls were led by their star guard Zach LaVine, who had 36 points, along with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. He was a +9 in the box score plus/minus.
Impressively, Denver was able to limit the Bulls team, who prior to tonight shot 37.5% from the three-point line, to just 25.8% tonight. The Nuggets had consistent breakdowns on defense, which gave Chicago plenty of wide open looks from three, but they just didn’t knock them down.
There appeared to be many breakdowns on defense for the Nuggets tonight. All of the Bulls wings were driving to the hoop with ease and no one was there to stop them from throwing down dunks. When Denver doubled on pick and rolls, there were wide open Bulls players open for easy buckets around the rim. Denver’s missed rotations and other lapses on defense could point to Jokic’s absence, who Coach Michael Malone calls, “the anchor of (Denver’s) defense.”
Offensively, Will Barton, Aaron Gordon, and Facundo Campazzo off the bench shined brightly tonight. Even in a loss, Barton was a +4 in the plus/minus, with 23 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. Gordon shot a ridiculous 83.3% from the field , scoring 28 points, pulling down 9 boards, and dishing out 4 assists. He was aggressive tonight, capitalizing on his mismatches in the post and driving to the hoop effectively.
Facu Campado has been the brunt of many fans and analysts’ complaints for the woes of the Nuggets bench unit. Tonight, he silenced the slander for at least one night. He scored 16 points off the bench, while knocking down 80% of his threes. Without his contributions, the Nuggets bench would have only scored 17 points, which is still an improvement over the previous matchup against the 76ers.
Jeff and JyMychal Green continued to struggle. Jeff had a team worse -9 in the plus/minus, with a team high 4 turnovers. JyMychal shot 1/6 from the field and had another one of his patented illegal screens. He was a +1 in the plus/minus if that means anything.
A critical area where Denver felt Jokic’s absence was on the boards. Chicago had 50 rebounds compared to Denver’s 38. The alarming number was the Bulls pulling down 17 offensive rebounds. Denver couldn’t afford this tonight, especially when they were missing three starters.
On a quick side note, there have been talks about Demar Derozan being an MVP candidate with his body of work this season. Derozan did score 26 points, but he shot 7/21 from the field and was -4 in the plus/minus. It’s a bit fishy, but he had 12 free throw attempts, with 8 of those attemps coming in the last 1:15 of game time.
A valiant effort for Denver tonight despite a loss. They play the red-hot Phoenix Suns Sunday night, who are on an 11-game winning streak.
Stats Tell Stories 