Nikola Jokic put up 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists on 8-of-12 shooting in 26 minutes on Sunday night, and Denver still needed a third-quarter rally to beat Chicago 133-128 at home.
A preseason triple-double in 26 minutes is a reminder of what Jokic is. Trailing the Bulls by 15 in the first half is a reminder of what Denver’s depth looks like without him on the floor.
Chicago Led 68-59 at the Break
The Bulls were up by as many as 15 before halftime. Caleb Wilson, the No. 4 pick, ended the half with a buzzer-beater and finished with 17 points, five assists, four rebounds and a block, along with five turnovers.
Leonard Miller was the best player in the building for long stretches. He came off the bench and scored 26 on 11-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-6 from three, with seven rebounds.
Matas Buzelis had 12 at halftime. Buddy Hield scored 15 and Jalen Smith 11 in the first half. Noa Essengue added eight points and six rebounds.
The Third Quarter Was the Whole Game
Denver outscored Chicago 40-26 in the third and turned a nine-point deficit into control. Aaron Gordon led the Nuggets with 25 points and six rebounds, Cam Johnson added 15, and seven other Denver players reached double figures.
Seven players in double figures sounds like depth. The bench numbers say otherwise.
75-56
That is Chicago’s bench scoring against Denver’s bench scoring. A 19-point gap, in a game Denver won by five, with Jokic playing only 26 minutes.
It is the preseason, and Chicago was missing Norman Powell to rest, Tobe Awaka to knee soreness, and both Nic Claxton and Zach Collins to unavailability. Denver was presumably managing its own minutes. Nobody should panic over a bench differential in October.
It is also the exact thing that has defined every Denver season of the Jokic era. The starting five is championship caliber. The minutes when Jokic sits have been a problem for years, and Sunday did nothing to suggest that has been solved.
What Chicago Should Feel Good About
The Bulls lost to a team with the best player in the world and got 43 points from Miller and Wilson. Wilson’s five turnovers are a rookie being a rookie. His 17 points and five assists in a game of that pace are not.
Chicago is not winning anything this season. It is finding out whether the No. 4 pick can play, and Sunday was a reasonable first answer.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.