Tue, 11/10 Bulls vs Nuggets

With his 21-point, 16-rebound effort versus the Bobcats (11/07), Joakim Noah became the third player in the last six seasons to post at least 20 points, 15 rebounds, four blocks and shoot .800 or better from the field in a victory. Shaquille O’Neal (vs. MIL, 03/21/04) and Kevin Garnett (vs. DAL, 03/21/01) are the others (Elias Sports Bureau).

Chauncey Billups hit the go-ahead free throw with six-tenths of a second left and the Denver Nuggets beat the Chicago Bulls 90-89 on Tuesday night after a potential winning jumper by Brad Miller was overturned following a replay review.

Billups was fouled by Kirk Hinrich on a drive and then intentionally missed the second free throw after making the first to break the tie. Joakim Noah grabbed the rebound, and the Bulls nearly pulled it off.

After a timeout, Miller caught the inbounds pass from Hinrich and, in one motion, buried a jumper from the top of the key. The crowd went wild. So did the Bulls, but it didn't last.

After a lengthy review, the officials ruled time had expired, and the Nuggets snapped a two-game losing streak.

[...]

Derrick Rose led Chicago with 22 points, while Luol Deng scored 21, and Joakim Noah had a career-high 21 rebounds for the Bulls, who had won three straight.

In the span of those 10 long minutes, Bulls players went from running and jumping excitedly on the floor to trudging sadly off of it.

"I always thought .3 seconds was enough to get a shot off, and the way Brad threw it up, he didn't even follow through," Joakim Noah said. "I thought it was definitely good. Even looking at the play on the replay, to overrule it, how could you overrule it? It was really close, but … just a tough, tough loss. We got to bounce back against Toronto."

Bulls head coach Vinny Del Negro echoed the sentiments of the rest of his team.

"It's such a split-second thing -- .3 seconds," Del Negro said. "I thought it was good when I saw it initially. I haven't even seen the replay. It's irrelevant. The refs have to make the call, and I'll get a chance to look at it later."

The worst part of this loss for the Bulls is that it overshadows all the positive things the team accomplished in the game. The team played solid defense again, holding the high-scoring Nuggets to just 90 points. Noah had another monster outing, grabbing a career-high 21 rebounds and dropping in 12 points of his own. Derrick Rose and Luol Deng combined for 43 points. In the end, though, it wasn't enough.

Now, the Bulls have to regroup and get ready to face the Raptors on the other side of a back-to-back.

"It's a tough decision," Deng said. "It could go either way. I wish it went our way, but it didn't. This is a long season, but we've got a game [Wednesday]."