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The Denver Nuggets went on the road tonight to take on the Chicago Bulls in a match up of two teams really showing promise early in the season. Carmelo Anthony is on a scoring tear early on and the Nuggets have won some games convincingly. The Bulls on the other hand have really shown their strength to hold down the Central Division with their presence inside with Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah. Also, Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng can all score from the perimeter. Tonight also marked the first game back for J.R. Smith who served a seven game suspension.

The first quarter showed some back and forth scoring between the two ball clubs that saw Denver take a 22-20 lead. Carmelo Anthony struggled early and was unable to get himself into that scoring assassin flow. Joakim Noah really did what he does best right from the get-go and that is simply rebound the basketball. Mid way through the second quarter the Nuggets took a 33-25 lead with the help of reserve guard Ty Lawson hitting two three pointers to help breathe life into the offense. Hinrich was on point with a few jump shots that countered any Nuggets attack, but did his scoring early and only ended with six points. By the half time break, the Nuggets were holding on dearly to their 46-43 lead.

As the second half got underway, so did Anthony and the offense, scoring netting their highest point total in a quarter at 25. The Bulls simply would not go away. Noah as mentioned was all over the glass and displayed such tenacity en route to his 21 total rebounds on the evening. At the end of the third the Nuggets still led the Bulls by a count of 71-66.

In the fourth quarter, there were many valuable possessions on display for both clubs. Chicago was able to score some easy buckets and hit open jumpers to chip away at the Nuggets lead. Anthony countered a few Bulls’ runs with buckets of his own down the stretch. With under a minute remaining, the Nuggets were ahead 89-87 and Derrick Rose took his man to the hole. A foul was called and Rose sank the two freebies to even the score at 89 with 10.4 seconds left. The following Nuggets possession, the ball was knocked loose on a drive and went out of bounds on the Bulls. With 4.3 left, Billups took Hinrich off the dribble and sold the foul call. A veteran move for sure, Billups made the first free throw. On the second attempt he missed on purpose and the Bulls snagged the rebound as time expired. The officials then put .3 seconds back on the clock, which is enough for a catch and shoot or tip in.

With .3 left and down 90-89, the Bulls got the inbound pass on their side of the floor with a chance for a shot or tip in. The screens were set at the high elbow and Brad Miller released to the top of the key. With his foot just inside the three point line, he caught and flung a shot all in one motion in what seemed before the time expired. The ball swished through the net and the crowd roared in jubilation because the Bulls had just won. Not so fast, because the referees went to the scorers table to review the shot and if it was indeed released before time expired. The verdict; the shot was not in time and the Bulls lose a heart breaker at home against the surging Nuggets. The Bulls dropped to 4-2 and the Nuggets move to 5-2 with the win.

Game Notes:
Nuggets Scoring Leaders- Anthony 20, Billups 17, Martin 15, Nene 11, Afflalo 10.
Nene and Martin each had double-doubles with 12 and 10 rebounds respectively.

Bulls Scoring Leaders- Rose 22, Deng 21, Noah 12, Salmons 11, Gibson 10.
- Noah completed a double-double performance with his 12 points and 21 rebounds.
-Only got to the free throw line 13 times and made 9.

*Both teams combined for 31 turnovers.. the Nuggets had 18 and the Bulls 13.

BG
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