Nikola Jokic didn’t last long in Chicago on Tuesday night.
The Denver Nuggets star was just beginning to warm into the game in the second quarter as the Bulls scrabbled to chip down a six-point deficit. When center Nikola Vucevic swiped Jokic while contesting a shot with barely a minute left in the first half, the Nuggets center immediately took it up with referee Mousa Dagher while jogging back on defense.
The interaction lasted three seconds, but that was enough. Dagher immediately ejected Jokic from the game, drastically shifting the tone of the matchup with 1:02 left in the first half.
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Jokic and Nuggets coach Michael Malone protested the ejection on the court. On the NBC Sports Chicago broadcast, commentators Adam Amin and Stacey King criticized the decision even though it benefited the Bulls. And Chicago fans weren’t pleased with the decision.
Although it wasn’t an official theme night, the game was marketed toward the Serbian community in Chicago — home to the second-largest population of Serbs in the world outside of the nation’s capital, Belgrade — with ticket packages offered in anticipation of Jokic’s sole game in the city this season. Boos descended from the crowd as fans realized Jokic had been thrown out of the game.
After the game crew chief Mark Lindsay declined to specify the content of Jokic’s complaint, but he told a pool reporter Jokic “directed profane language at the official that by our standards warranted an ejection.”
Malone also chose not to repeat the language Jokic used but disagreed it necessitated an immediate ejection.
“When I heard what he said, I said, ‘I don’t understand the problem because when I grew up that was a term of endearment,'” Malone said.
But Jokic was less coy, admitting he told the officials to “call the (expletive) foul” and used the word “mother(expletive)” directly before he was ejected.
“I think sometimes what I said is not even a technical,” Jokic said. “So it is what it is. I crossed the line. But sometimes that word doesn’t cross the line.”
A veteran of disputing referees in Serbian, Vucevic offered his own advice after the game: “You can’t do it in English.”
Yet despite missing Jokic and Jamal Murray — who sat out with an ankle injury — the Nuggets held off the Bulls’ second-half comeback attempt for a 114-106 win.
The Bulls (9-16) are now on a two-game skid as they enter a three-game trip with two matchups against the Miami Heat and one versus the Philadelphia 76ers.
Here are three takeaways from the loss.
1. The Nuggets took control of the third quarter without their star.
Jokic’s absence might have seemed like an advantage for the Bulls, but it didn’t play that way on the court in the third quarter.
The Nuggets went on a 15-6 run over less than four minutes midway through the quarter, which allowed them to establish a 16-point lead. The Bulls slowly chipped away at that deficit throughout the second half but never reduced the lead below nine points.
The Bulls struggled to start the game with the energy that defined their previous five games. They briefly fell into a double-digit deficit in the first quarter before taking a one-point lead for 10 seconds, their sole advantage of the game.
2. The bench struggled to produce with an injury-limited rotation.
Both teams were on the back end of a traveling back-to-back, and the Bulls were fresh off an overtime thriller against the Bucks that further taxed their resiliency. That physical toll was heightened as the Bulls played a second consecutive game missing both Zach LaVine (foot) and Alex Caruso (ankle) because of injury.
LaVine likely will be sidelined until January, but Caruso’s injury is expected to be shorter-term with a potential return this week. But with two key players sidelined, the Bulls bench struggled to make an impact Tuesday.
The bench combined for only 26 points and five assists. Torrey Craig and Jevon Carter helped to invigorate the defense, but the lack of offensive production left Coby White and Vucevic to provide half of the team’s total scoring.
3. Coby White extended his 3-point shooting streak to 12 games, but the team’s accuracy dipped.
Record-setting has become a norm for White, who extended his franchise-record streak of three or more 3-pointers to 12 consecutive games. White went 5-for-10 behind the arc and led the Bulls with 27 points.
The rest of the Bulls did not fare as well. Excluding White, the team went 8-for-30 (26.7%) from 3-point range. Patrick Williams (2-for-5) and Carter (3-for-8) were the only other Bulls to make multiple 3-pointers.
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Long-range shooting has been a buoying force for the Bulls during their recent offensive uptick, but Tuesday’s loss served as a reminder of how fickle this offense can be if its shooting dries up.