DENVER – The Bulls entered Wednesday chasing the 31-35 Washington Wizards for the final play-in sport in the Eastern Conference.
Big man Nikola Jokic and his Nuggets teammates entered the night in pursuit of history.
Two organizations seemingly going in two very different directions.
The Bulls must have missed the memo.
Thanks to a steady diet of lockdown defense, a flowing offense, as well as Zach LaVine leading the Bulls (30-36) with 29 points, the visiting team pulled off their most improbable win of the season, beating a Nuggets team that had been 30-4 at Ball Arena this season 117-96.
Not the first time the Bulls have beat an elite team this season, and now the question becomes can they finally take the momentum and run with it.
“At this point we don’t care what happened before,’’ LaVine said of the win. “We gotta win every game because that’s the position we put ourselves in. Each win is a big-time win. If it’s against Denver, if it’s against anybody. That’s just the mentality we have to have going forward to give ourselves a chance to go where we want to go.
“We’ve exhausted all of our mistakes and throwaway games. Gotta just give it our all.’’
It didn’t hurt the cause that the Wizards lost to Atlanta, and the Bulls were now just a game back.
But they’ve been here before. The last thing they can afford to do now is lose that momentum Saturday in Houston.
“Our challenge now is can we come back and do it again?’’ coach Billy Donovan said. “We’ve had some wins where we played against high-level teams that had incredible years, won games, but the consistency part is what we’ve got to be able to do.’’
The Bulls have had some impressive wins, but beating Jokic in Denver was special.
Not only are the Nuggets trying to finish first in the Western Conference for the first time since the ABA days, but then there’s Jokic, who is considered the leader for the 2022-23 MVP.
Well, depending on who you talk to.
Jokic’s attempt to become just the fourth player to win the MVP award three-straight years – joining Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird – has been met with some scrutiny lately on national debate shows, despite the 6-foot-11 versatile center averaging a triple-double.
All noise and nonsense as far as Bulls center Nikola Vucevic was concerned, even on a night in which he actually outplayed his fellow Euro star.
“It’s not like he’s putting up numbers and they’re not winning,’’ Vucevic said. “They’re (25-0) when he has a triple-double. And he plays in a winning way. He makes the right play. He doesn’t force things. He doesn’t try to do something just to do it. It’s all within the flow of the game. It’s winning basketball.’’
That didn’t stop Vucevic from taking a few swipes at his good friend, joking that the “Joker’’ is “a stat padder.’’
“I think he deserves to get another one, the way he’s playing,’’ Vucevic then said, getting serious. “I think you take him out of that team, it’s not even close to the same team.’’
Credit the Bulls, however, for not allowing Jokic to play to his strengths. They attacked him on the offensive end, evident by the 66 points in the paint by the Bulls, and didn’t allow him to play the role of facilitator on the defensive end.
A perfect game plan in the end.
“Just tried to make it tough for him,’’ LaVine said of how they handled Jokic. “If we’re letting him shoot pull-up threes, he can make them, but you just tip your cap to him because that takes away from everything else he does so great.’’