LaVine scores 36 points as Bulls hold off Denver
For a moment in the third quarter of the Bulls’ 114-108 win over the Nuggets on Friday night, the Pepsi Center in Denver sounded more like the United Center.
A rumble of “Let’s go, Bulls” cheers filled the arena, dousing the Nuggets’ home court with a wave of Bulls pride. The chants started shortly after Derrick Jones Jr. did his best to rip the rim off the backboard.
With 4 minutes, 53 seconds left in the quarter, Jones took a feed from Zach LaVine into the paint, planted his feet just inside the free-throw line and lofted his body diagonally. When his hands smashed down into a vicious two-handed dunk a second later, his momentum pulled his body into a full-on swing, leaving the forward to dangle on the rim for a moment as the Bulls bench flexed and shouted behind him.
“It’s different when the away crowd is chanting, ‘Let’s go, Bulls.’ I just never had that in my career,” Jones said. “I’ve never gone to a city and that city is chanting for my team. That’s different.”
After a sluggish start to the final game of their West Coast trip, Jones provided a necessary spark off the bench to power the Bulls offense. He finished with 16 points, eating up dunks off dive cuts from the pickand-roll as the Nuggets struggled to protect the rim.
The Bulls bounced back quickly after letting the Nuggets run up a double-digit lead during a sluggish first quarter, notching a 16-2 run entering the second quarter and taking the lead by the end of the half. Despite erasing that deficit, the Bulls’ lead never felt comfortable. Aaron Gordon terrorized the paint, dropping 28 to keep the Nuggets in the mix.
In the final minutes of the game, LaVine took over for the Bulls once again. The All-Star guard was the leading scorer the second straight game with 36 points, knocking down three shots from behind the arc in the fourth quarter to fend off a last-minute comeback.
“I think (he’s) one of the best tough shot-makers in this league,” coach Billy Donovan said. “Everything he did was aggressive and it was straight line. It was very, very direct and it was very, very explosive, even the ones that he missed. His level of aggressiveness when he plays like that, when he’s coming off screens or he’s playing downhill, it’s so hard to guard.”
DeMar DeRozan struggled for a second straight game from the field, shooting 1-for-6 in the first quarter and 7-for-21 for the game. But he thrived in the final quarter by slashing to the rim to force sloppy fouls from the undersized Nuggets, finishing 12-for-12 from the free-throw line for 26 points.
The Bulls made all 24 of their free-throw attempts and beat the Nuggets in Denver for the first time since 2006.
Both teams were missing their star big men, which evened the playing field in the paint. Center Nikola Jokić sat out for the Nuggets with a sprained right wrist. The Nuggets also were missing guard Jamal Murray and forward Michael Porter, Jr.
Nikola Vučević remained sidelined for the Bulls after testing positive for COVID19 last week. Ahead of Friday’s game, Donovan said Vučević is progressing but has yet to return consecutive negative test results. Once the center receives back-to-back negative tests, he could be cleared to play as early as Sunday’s home game against the New York Knicks.
After being thrown into the starting bigman role for the trip, center Tony Bradley recorded his best night of the five-game stretch with an eight-point performance in Denver. But Donovan opted to feed more minutes to Jones in the second half, rotating Bradley out in favor of the hot-handed forward. Without the bulky presence of Jokić in the paint, Jones provided the right balance of physicality and speed.
Jones’ performance led a balanced performance from the Bulls bench. Javonte Green knocked down a 3-pointer to send the Bulls up 51-50 entering the final minute of the first half. Ayo Dosunmu went 4-for-8 and finished with 10 points in another consistent performance. The trio combined for 25 rebounds as the Bulls won the battle of the boards 50-38.
Coby White scored his first basket of the season in his third game back from a torn labrum in his left shoulder, but he continued to struggle to match the cadence and movement of his teammates. White went 1-for-7 in 11 minutes, missing several easy chances around the rim and turning over the ball twice.
With the win, the Bulls finished 3-2 on their five-game trip despite the absence of Vučević. The team will return home with an 11-5 record and another test proven as they chase a top spot in the Eastern Conference.
“(It’s) nothing I didn’t know,” LaVine said. “We’re a really resilient team. If there’s a bump in the road, we respond the right way.”