Holiday tries to accept blame for Bulls' last-second loss in Denver
The Bulls weren't planning to win a ton of games this season, but the futility can make the close calls tough to take.
Justin Holiday took Thursday's loss in Denver hard. After Kris Dunn's driving bank put the Bulls ahead with 9.6 seconds left, Nuggets guard Will Barton got past Holiday for a driving lay in to clinch a 111-110 victory.
"Very disappointing. That's a game won. We had that game in the bag," Holiday told reporters after the Bulls' seventh-straight loss. "Three big plays I'm a part of, unusual. It just hurts a lot because I felt like I let my teammates down."
Before the game-winner, Holiday was called for two fouls against Barton, one for hitting him on the elbow for a 3-shot foul. Barton, who scored 37 points, hit 4 of 5 free throws to erase a Bulls' 3-point lead.
On Friday at the United Center, Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg refused to let Holiday accept blame.
"It wasn't on Justin," Hoiberg said. "The last play, it was just a matter of getting on the wrong side of him and allowing Barton to get to his right hand. I told Justin we wouldn't have even had a chance to win that game without what he provided over the course of 48 minutes."
On Denver's final possession, it appeared Holiday anticipated a screen coming at the top of the key, so he played Barton's left hand and gave up a lane to the basket. The other Bulls were guarding near the 3-point line, so there was no effective help available.
Three join G-League practice:
As promised, Nikola Mirotic and Zach LaVine practiced with the Windy City Bulls on Thursday afternoon at the Advocate Center. The Bulls added point guard Kay Felder, who hasn't played much, to the workout.
"I was able to watch most of it.," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "It was good to see those guys getting up and down in a scrimmage situation. Zach looked like he almost hit his head on the rim on one occasion on a breakaway.
"Niko's looking like he's getting stronger every day. He's still sore, really training camp-like soreness, but both those guys looked really good. Hopefully we'll get Niko back soon and Zach continue to ramp up his activity."
Hoiberg said they'll see how Mirotic feels Saturday, practice again Sunday and take it from there. The Bulls host Cleveland on Monday.
Dunn sparks fast start:
The Bulls' 39 points in the first quarter at Denver was the most points they've scored in an opening quarter since Jan. 17, 2012, according to Bulls radio statistician Jeff Mangurten. The Bulls scored 39 that night in a home game against Phoenix.
"I thought Kris Dunn played his best quarter of the season for us," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "He was doing a great job making simple plays. He got Robin (Lopez) in the pocket on several occasions. We did a good job of mismatch recognition.
"I thought it the best we've been all year at getting the ball to Lauri (Markkanen) in different spots when guards switched off on him. Overall, I thought our awareness and our cutting and our screening was as good as it's been."