Bulls vs. Nuggets 11/19

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Bulls vs. Nuggets

11/19/21


Streaks Broken, DeRozan, Free Throws In, D Rose'n, Feet Frozen, and More!



The Bulls beat Denver IN Denver.  And if I had a Nikola for every time I could say that over the past 15 years, I'd have exactly as many Nikolas as there were active in this game (that would be zero).

True, while I can't help but feel we were robbed from seeing some fine Nikola (Jokic) on Nikola (Vucevic) action, I'll take the win whenever and however we can get it.

And so it was that the Bulls took advantage of Jokic's absence to beat the Nuggets in high altitude, 114-108.  Speaking of high altitude, Derrick Jones, Jr.  He had a big game and was a major x-factor off the bench with 16 points and 8 rebounds, including 5 dunks, one of them particularly spectacular.

So in honor of this historic game against Denver, here are some nuggets:
  • STREAKS BROKEN:  It was the first time in 9 tries that the Bulls beat the Nuggets, and the first time since 2006 (back when I had Ben Gordon bicep envy) that we beat them on their home turf.  If you want some serious nostalgia, take a look at that team's roster: 2006 Bulls Roster

  • FREE THROWS IN:  The Bulls shot 24-24 from the free throw line.  I looked it up and it turns out, that's good.  They increased their lead as the best free throw shooting team in the NBA by a wide margin (about 3 percentage points better than 2nd place Miami at nearly 86 percent).  Tonight's performance didn't hurt.  You may have heard the expression "Free throws win games."  It definitely helped win one tonight.

  • DeROZAN:  DeRozan is settling into a pattern of starting hot, then cooling off, and then forcing plays at the end of games with mixed results.  Fortunately, he was able to get to the line for clutch free throws down the stretch even as he failed to produce even one clean look.  He finished 7-21 on the night.  But thanks to his efforts from the line, that was still good for 26 points.  Not to be outdone, Lavine went for 36 on 14-24 shooting.  Considering the degree of difficulty on many of his looks, it's amazing the shooting percentage Lavine is able to maintain.  He made up for last game's brick to tie the game with 10 seconds left by driving aggressively to the whole for strong finishes and nailing several big shots from the outside.  He was great. The DeRozan and Lavine duo easily leads the NBA in synchronous 20+ point games with 12 on the season.  Best duo in the NBA?  You're going to hear more talk about this as the season progresses, but there isn't a lot of competition, especially while many of the other best duos in the NBA have at least one of their counterparts out due to injury.  

  • HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES!: Coby White is now 1-11 on the season.  He is still not as rusty as LaRue.  In the first 2 games, he played to not make mistakes as he got used to NBA game speed again.  In this one, he made a concerted effort to be more aggressive, probably at the behest of his coach and teammates.  He made mistakes, especially in the second half, but most of the shot attempts were the right ones to take.  He was just off.  The clip below best demonstrates a play that Coby will normally finish once he gets more reps under his belt.
  • ALEX FREAKIN' CARUSO:  D Rose, in his prime, was assured of making at least 2 or 3 incredible highlight plays every game.  Alex Caruso has become the D Rose of defense.  He left me in awe TWICE tonight.  Check out the plays below.


         
  • FEET FROZEN: Another player got cold feet after losing a shoe; this time, the foot loose belonged to Will Barton of the Nuggets.  I propose that from now on, whenever a player loses a shoe, the game stops, and a Kevin Bacon look-alike comes out on the floor and dances like this for the entirety of the song before play may resume. To recap, the last 4 games went like this:
    • Clippers: 3 shoes lost (all Bulls).
    • Lakers: 1 shoe lost (opponent).
    • Blazers: Somehow, everyone's shoes stayed on, allegedly.
    • Tonight: Will Barton lost his shoe.
That's an average of over 1 lost shoe per game.  And if my math is correct, that means in the time it took me to write this sentence, 9.5 NBA players had to tie their shoes.  Please, this needs to stop.  I don't want to have to write anymore shoe puns....  Okay, I DO want to write more shoe puns because this incredible feat (get it?) should be a shoe-in (get it?) for at least a footnote (get it?) on ESPN!  Now I don't want to get socked, so I better move on before I overstep the line.

Finally, as always (starting tonight), I will leave you with the most...

Quintessential Bulls Moment



Next up: we're back home against the Knicks Sunday and looking for revenge!

Go Bulls

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