The Denver Nuggets pulled out a thrilling 108-107 overtime victory over the Chicago Bulls on Halloween night, improving their record to 6-1 on the season.
In a nail-biting, last breath, pull-your-hair-out game, it was the Denver Nuggets who reigned supreme in the United Center.
It was once again an underwhelming performance on offense, especially from 3-point range. On 26 attempts, they made just 7 3-point field goals, a shooting percentage of 26.9%. That is actually worse than their already horrid 3-point percentage going into the Bulls matchup of 29.7%. They were out shot by the Bulls on the night(at least from deep) and it really wasn’t close.
On defense, they gave up a 3-point field goal percentage of 47.1%. They were able to make up for that by allowing a 2-point FG% of just 39.7%, which played a big part in their gritty victory.
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Overall, it was another solid defensive performance by the Nuggets, giving up just 107 points in 53 minutes to a team with one of the hottest scorers in basketball(Zach Lavine) and some very capable outside shooters. They registered an impressive 16 blocks on the night and 7 steals. That is more impressive when noting they were called for a foul just 16 times on the night.
Despite the very close finish, it was a pretty similar game to what we have seen all season from these Nuggets. They shot worse from 3-point range than their opponent, but they ended up with more possessions and more shots because of their great defense and rebounding prowess.
Grabbing their 6th win in 7 games, the Nuggets are looking more and more formidable by the minute. And the man leading the way also happens to be the player of the game for tonight.
(Note: All stats via NBA.com.)
Player of the Game: Nikola Jokic
While the Joker did get off to a fairly rough start, he more than made up for it in the 4th quarter and overtime.
Jokic dropped a team-high 22 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals on 45% shooting from the field and 50% shooting from 3-point range in 32 minutes. He also had a BPM of +4 in a game where only 4 out of 9 Nuggets players recorded a positive BPM on the night. The only real negatives in his performance were his slow start to the game and his game leading 6 turnovers.
While it is hard to pick Jokic over Paul Millsap, especially after Millsap grabbed Jokic’s miss and put it in the basket for the win, I believe it is justified because of his two-way play throughout the 4th quarter and overtime.
He blocked a potential go-ahead basket from Zach Lavine with less than 7 seconds left in regulation and forced the Bulls to put up a shot with 1 second left on the shot clock(which Millsap proceeded to swat) to give the Nuggets a chance to win. He was a daunting presence in the paint, with the Bulls making only 5 shots within 3 feet of the basket in the 4th quarter and overtime. They attempted just 8 shots in that area over that period of time.
On offense, Jokic was a major factor in overtime, accounting for 8 out of the 10 Nuggets’ overtime points, including 2 absolutely huge 3-pointers that both put the Nuggets in the lead. He also assisted Malik Beasley‘s game-tying 2-point jumper with just over a minute left in regulation, which ended up bringing the Nuggets to overtime.
Overall, Jokic and Millsap both dominated the Bulls, helping the Nuggets out rebound the Bulls by 13 and outscore them in the paint by 22. However, because of his absolutely huge impacts on offense and defense down the stretch, the player of the game goes to Jokic for Wednesday night.