After five straight losses, the Chicago Bulls finally broke through—outlasting the Western Conference’s second-best team, the Denver Nuggets, 130–127. Chicago held off Denver rallies in both the second and fourth quarters to secure its hardest-fought win of the season.
The Bulls led by as many as 18 points in the second quarter and 13 in the fourth, both stretches fueled by the reserves. As a result, the plus/minus numbers told a bizarre story: no Bulls starter finished better than minus–11, while every member of the second unit posted at least a plus-4.
Most notably, Kevin Huerter—who scored 20 points, hit the go-ahead triple with 1:25 remaining, assisted Nikola Vuu010deviu0107’s three-pointer that put Chicago up four with 33 seconds left, and knocked down the game-sealing free throws with under two seconds to play—still finished with a team-worst minus-21.