Bulls lose a heart-breaker to Nuggets
The Bulls finished off Tuesday night's game against Denver with a miracle shot and jubilant celebration.
Modern technology robbed them of victory, though, and in this case, two out of three didn't mean anything. The Bulls suffered a heartbreaking 90-89 loss that wasn't decided until 10 minutes after the final horn.
Here's the scenario: After the Bulls deflected a pass out of bounds, Denver took possession with the score tied at 89-89 and 4.3 seconds on the clock.
The Nuggets ignored leading scorer Carmelo Anthony and let guard Chauncey Billups run a pick-and-roll. Billups got into the lane, drew an obvious reach-in foul on Kirk Hinrich and hit a tiebreaking free throw with 0.6 seconds on the clock.
Billups missed the second shot on purpose and Joakim Noah grabbed the rebound, his 21st of the night. The officials checked the replay and decided 0.3 seconds still remained when the Bulls called a quick timeout.
After advancing the ball to half-court, the Bulls threw it in to center Brad Miller, who tossed up a quick 22-foot prayer that drew nothing but net. The sellout crowd at the United Center exploded, the Bulls mobbed Miller in celebration, and the referees said the basket counted.
"As soon as I saw the flight of the ball, I knew it was good," Billups said. "Then I was sitting and just laughing. Not so much about the shot, but looking at their reaction. They were dancing and jumping around like they just made the Sweet Sixteen."
Last-second shots always are reviewed in the NBA, however. After staring at the television screen for several minutes, the referees finally settled on a verdict: No basket, Bulls lose.
Had there been 0.4 seconds on the clock when the play started, it would have counted.
"A couple angles they were looking at, at first it looked like it was good, because it wasn't a full (shot), it was a shot put," Miller said after leaving the locker room quickly. "What can you do?"
When one replay was shown on the videoboard, the Bulls celebrated while standing near their bench. From a low angle, it appeared Miller might have released the ball in time. On others, the ball seemed to be touching his fingertips when the red light went on, signaling the end of the game.
"I always thought 0.3 seconds was enough to get a shot off and the way Brad threw it up, he didn't even follow through or anything," Noah said. "I thought it was definitely good. Even looking at the replay, how could you overrule it? It was really close, but I don't know. Just a tough loss."
Luol Deng gave an opposing viewpoint in front of his locker.
"I really don't know. I thought it was a fact that you can't shoot in 0.3. I thought it was 0.4," he said. "I kind of saw (the television replay) behind the refs - it could go either way. It's a tough loss, but you can't just look at the last shot."
The Bulls (4-3) scrapped their way back from a 7-point deficit in the final six minutes, shook off a few bad breaks and finally tied the score when Derrick Rose picked up a ball that had been knocked out of Noah's hands and hit a bank shot with 33.9 seconds left.
Anthony drained a tough 17-footer over Deng with 13.1 seconds remaining to put Denver (6-2) ahead 89-87. Then Rose (22 points) was fouled going to the basket and knocked down 2 free throws with 10.4 seconds on the clock.
Mike McGraw's game tracker
Nuggets 90, Bulls 89
Close as it gets: The clock read 0.3 when the Bulls took the ball out of bounds and found Brad Miller, who drained a quick 22-footer to give the Bulls an apparent miracle victory. The referees initially called the basket good, but after staring at the replay for nearly five minutes, they changed their mind and waved it off.
No such clutch: The Bulls rallied from 7 points down with six minutes left to tie the score twice in the final 35 seconds. First, Denver responded with a Carmelo Anthony 17-footer with 13.1 seconds left, then Chauncey Billups drew a foul and hit 1 of 2 free throws with 0.6 seconds on the clock.
Noah stopping him: Bulls center Joakim Noah continued to impress, grabbing 21 rebounds to go with 12 points. Luol Deng outscored Anthony 21-20, while Derrick Rose (22 points) had his best game of the season, but the Bulls fell a fingertip short.
Bulls vs. Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Centre
Time: 6 p.m.
TV: Channel 26
Radio: WMVP 1000-AM
Update: Chris Bosh is off to a terrific start, averaging 29 points and 11.6 rebounds, while former No. 1 draft pick Andrea Bargnani is at 20.1 points. But the Raptors (3-4) are missing something defensively, losing at San Antonio on Monday 131-124 even though the Spurs were without Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. Newcomer Hedo Turkoglu is averaging 15.0 points. The Bulls won once in Toronto last season, then lost three straight to the Raptors.
Next: Saturday vs. Philadelphia 76ers at the United Center, 7 p.m.