The Chicago Bulls walked into Ball Arena exhausted and outmatched, but Kevin Huerter still helped Chicago pull off one of the most improbable wins of the season against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. It wasn’t supposed to be close. Not after a double-overtime loss against the Jazz the night before. Not in the altitude. Not with the Nuggets rolling out its usual home dominance. Yet the Bulls found another gear when everything pointed toward a schedule loss.
The numbers tell the story better than any punchline. The Nuggets' starters destroyed the Bulls' unit, posting a +14.1 net rating while looking in total control. Their bench, however, collapsed to a stunning -17.1. The 31.2-point gap between the groups was the largest by any starting lineup that still lost a game this season. It’s the type of statistical split that ends games early. Instead, it cracked the door open just wide enough for the Bulls to squeeze through.
A Statistical Oddity That Feels Even Stranger in Context for the Bulls
According to play-by-play data tracking back to 1996-97, this outcome has happened only nine times. Nine in nearly three decades. And the Bulls have now pulled off two of those this year alone, with their comeback against the Sixers being the other. That doesn’t happen by accident. That happens when a team refuses to fold, even when its own starters produced the second-worst performance of any group this entire season.
Chicago leaned on timely stops, altitude-defying legs, and more composure than anyone expected on a night built for Denver. Jokic still got his usual control of the tempo. Huerter found steady looks. None of it mattered once the Nuggets’ bench slid into chaos and the Bulls kept punching.
And after a win this bizarre, fans can’t help but wonder: if the Bulls can steal games like this, what ceiling do they actually have?
