The Chicago Bulls continued their tumble down the standings after suffering a 123-101 loss at the hands of the reigning NBA champions Denver Nuggets on Saturday night at the Ball Center in Denver.

The loss dropped the Bulls further to the bottom of the Central Division standings with a 2-5 (win-loss) record.

Fantastic first half

The Bulls played fantastic on both ends of the floor in the first half. Their defense on two-time MVP Nikola Jokic was on point, holding him to just 11 points in the first two quarters of play. Chicago also kept Jokic from functioning as the Nuggets’ fulcrum on offense, preventing him from getting his teammates involved by clogging up the passing lanes.

Jamal Murray only played a little under nine minutes before leaving the game because of tightness in his right hamstring. He finished with just two points and two rebounds.

On offense, the Bulls went to Nikola Vucevic early and often, and the former All-Star delivered, scoring 13 points in the first half. He finished with a team-high 19 points.

DeMar DeRozan was the team’s second-leading scorer with 17 points, while Zach LaVine was limited to 12. The two wingmen had another poor shooting performance, missing 17 of their 28 attempts from the field.

Night and day

The second half, though, was a totally different story, as the Nuggets scored eight unanswered points en route to putting up 35 in the third quarter. Denver continued their onslaught in the fourth and tallied 37 points in that stretch, which meant Chicago allowed the Nuggets to score a whopping 72 points in the second half.

After a lackluster first half, Jokic came alive in the second half and totaled 28 points, 16 rebounds, and nine assists. Michael Porter Jr. added 27 points, while Aaron Gordon chipped in 15 points and 12 rebounds.