Bulls' defense sparkles in loss
Lost in the controversy of Brad Miller's late last-second shot on Tuesday was the Bulls putting together a serious defensive effort.
The Nuggets came into the game averaging 109.3 points per game and scored just 90. Forward Carmelo Anthony, entering as the league's second-ranked scorer at 31.4 points, was held to 20 points on 8-of-22 shooting.
Luol Deng hit 8 of 14 shots and ended up outscoring Anthony 21-20.
"We did a good job as a team, trying to take him out of the jumper and make him drive into help," Deng said. "I thought as a team, the guys had my back just being there whenever he drove. It was a really good team effort on the weak side defensively."
At the start of the third quarter, the Bulls collected 5 blocked shots and 2 steals in the opening five minutes.
"That's what's going to give us a chance to win every game, on the defensive end," John Salmons said. "If we can play defense like that for the season, we'll give ourselves a chance to win."
Noah left off ballot: The Bulls have five players on the NBA all-star ballot, but it was tough to ignore one glaring omission.
Center Brad Miller is on the ballot, while Joakim Noah is not. The players were chosen by a panel of six sports writers, probably before the regular season began, but they definitely got this one wrong.
Noah is the Bulls' starter and ranked seventh on the list of leading rebounders before he grabbed a career-high 21 against Denver. The third-year center was coming off 21 points, 16 rebounds and 4 blocks against Charlotte on Saturday.
Noah wasn't going to get more votes than Orlando's Dwight Howard, anyway, so maybe the ballot snub was no great loss.
The other Bulls on the ballot are Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich and John Salmons at guard, along with forward Luol Deng. The 2010 All-Star Game will be held Feb. 14 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex., with a crowd of 80,000 expected.
Fans can vote at nba.com, inside NBA arenas or by texting the player's last name.
Sign of the turkey: The Nike sneakers Brad Miller wears during games feature the initials "BM" on the outside heel and the outline of a turkey on the inside of the heel.
Miller, an avid hunter who has his own show on the Sportsman Channel, took credit for the design and suggested future shoes might feature a deer or bear.
"Some sort of critter I've killed over the years," he joked.
His name is Earl: Denver shooting guard J.R. Smith, who spent a few weeks as a member of the Bulls in the summer of 2006, has decided he wants to be called by his given name, Earl. He was still called J.R. in the game notes and by public address announcer Tommy Edwards on Tuesday.