The Chicago Bulls lost to the Denver Nuggets by the slimmest of margins last night, losing 90-89 in heart breaking fashion.

With 0.6 seconds left in the game, and the game tied at 89, Chauncey Billups stepped up to the free throw line. He hit the first free throw to give the Nuggets a one point lead, and purposefully missed the second free throw. Joakim Noah snatched up the rebound and and called a timeout, leaving the Bulls with 0.3 seconds left in the game.

The Bulls inbounded the ball to Brad Miller, who was cutting away from the basket. Miller flicked up a shot, and it was good. The Bulls and the United Center erupted into celebration. As the shot was at the end of regulation, the referees were required to review the play. Upon the review, the referees overturned the call, saying that Miller did not get the shot off on time.

It is hard to get too upset over this, as logically, there is no way that Miller got that shot off in less than 0.3 seconds. However, according to the NBA rules, the Bulls should have won last night’s game, as when the evidence is inconclusive, the ruling on the court is supposed to be upheld. There was no way, at least from the camera angles we saw (which are supposed to be the same one’s that the referees see) that they could conclude whether or not the ball was out of Miller’s hands.

I am issuing a challenge to the NBA. Upload this play to the video rule book, and explain the conclusive piece of evidence in your replays that led to this call being overturned. Also, while you’re at it, upload the video Rajon Rondo’s foul in the playoffs, and explain why that is a hard foul that’s not flagrant.

While the loss was disappointing, there were some positives tonight, in particular, Derrick Rose finally had a good all around game. Rose finished with 22 points on 10-17 shooting and 5 assists. The problem of course is that this is his best game of the season. Many expected him to be putting up these types of performances on a nightly basis, and it just hasn’t happened. Hopefully Rose can use this game as a jumping off point for this season.

Joakim Noah continued his defensive dominance, putting up a 12 point, 21 rebound, and 3 block performance.

Luol Deng played well, finishing with 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. In this game, Deng actually scored the ball efficiently. The most impressive part about Deng’s game was the way he played defensively, holding Carmelo Anthony to 20 points, his lowest output of the season, on an inefficient 42.9 TS%.

Taj Gibson was solid, putting up 11 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. He was active on defense, and grabbed 3 steals.

The Bulls backcourt struggles continued, this game being the struggling play of John Salmons and Kirk Hinrich. Salmons finished with 11 points on 3-13 shooting and Hinrich finished with 6 points on 3-10 shooting, 4 assists, and 3 turnovers.

Both Nene Hilario and Kenyon Martin put up double doubles for the Nuggets. Nene had 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Martin finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Chauncey Billups was solid as usual, finishing with 17 points and 6 assists.

Earl Smith struggled for the Nuggets, scoring only 5 points on 1-9 shooting.

George Karl passed up Red Auerbach, to move into 8th place on the all time wins list for coaches, winning his 939th game.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 4-3.

The Chicago Bulls and Ben Gordon experienced a bit of deja vu tonight.

Last year, after making a big trade at the deadline, the Bulls played the Nuggets at the United Center and beat them down.  This year, the same thing, as the Bulls defeated the Denver Nuggets 116 to 99.

Last year, Ben Gordon scored 37 points in the post deadline game against the Nuggets.  This year?  Ben Gordon also had 37 points.

The game didn’t look like it was going to be a Bulls victory at the start.  Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah were playing absolutely no interior or help defense.  At one point Chauncey Billups put one in close as Tyrus Thomas stood by idly.

Thomas and Noah were obviously worried about foul trouble.  The Bulls only had eight players suit up tonight, having Lindsey Hunter, Kirk Hinrich, and Aaron Gray as the only options in the game.  It was really a 7 man rotation, as Lindsey Hunter only played 1:07 in the game.  With only Gray backing them up, Thomas and Noah were playing no defense to avoid foul trouble.

But then the big man duo started playing defense, and it was good defense.  Nene Hilario scorched the Bulls, making his first eight shots for 16 points.  After that?  He had 3 points on 1-9 shooting.  Kenyon Martin had some nice baskets in the first half, but left the game at halftime with backspasms, which helped the Bulls greatly.

With the young bigs holding it down inside, Ben Gordon started making some big shots.  First in the second quarter to get the Bulls bakc into the game, and then had a monster third quarter to give the Bulls a solid lead.  When Ben Gordon rested early in the fourth, the Nuggets were able to tie the game at 83.  From there, Gordon came in, and the Bulls went on a 33 to 16 run in the last 9:27 to run to victory.

Ben Gordon was terrific tonight.  He finished the game with a season high 37 points.  He was great shooting the ball, going 4-7 from three point land.  He scored on a lot of fastbreak layups.  Gordon has really developed into one of the best fastbreak players in the NBA this past season.

Gordon was joined by Kirk Hinrich for the fourth quarter, as Vinny Del Negro benched the rookie, Derrick Rose, in favor of the veteran backcourt.  Rose was having a terrible game.  He just doesn’t understand where he needs to be on defense.  Billups realized this, and picked apart Rose for an easy 25 points.

Kirk Hinrich was good tonight, scoring 9 points and passing for 8 assists.  The big difference Hinrich made was playing good defense on Billups in the fourth.

Tyrus Thomas was phenomenal tonight, outside of the beginning of the game.  Thomas finished the game with 21 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 3 steals.  What more can you ask out of your power forward?  If Thomas keeps up his great February play, he will vindicate Paxson’s selection of Thomas over LaMarcus Aldridge in the 2006 NBA Draft.

Luol Deng was very good tonight as well.  He had 22 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 steals.  He started out the game hot, and then disappeared for two quarters, and then reemerged in the fourth.  It’s alwas nice to see Deng making some important shots in the fourth, after he had been so invisible in the fourth for so many years.

The most important aspect of Deng’s game tonight was his defense.  He played good defense, holding Carmelo Anthony, who was slightly banged up, to 12 points on 5-18 shooting.  When Anthony only scores 12 points on 5-18 shooting, the Nuggets are usually going to lose that ball game.

Joakim Noah added in 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks for the Bulls.  Aaron Gray had 4 points, including one basket on a thunderous dunk.

Linas Kleiza had 16 points for the Nuggets.

I think not having Andres Nocioni is really going to help the Bulls.  Nocioni really had become an on the court cancer.  He might have been a great locker room guy, but what he did on the court was an abomination.  This might be a similar situation to 06-07.  In 06-07 the Bulls went on their big run to finish the season, and almost win 50 games after Nocioni went out with his plantar fascitis.  Will the Bulls go o na similar run this year without Nocioni?  Only time will tell.

This team is beginning to look more and more like the vintage Scott Skiles Bulls.  Perhaps no one will ever find out the reasons for the turnaround, but it’s happening, and that’s all that matters.  The Bulls are looking like a dangerous team heading into the playoffs.  Doing what they are right now is not enough to make them one of the top teams in the East like it was in 06-07.  But it could be enough to make the Bulls a team that the big teams will want to avoid in the first round come playoff time.

With the win, the Bulls improve to 25-30 on the season.  With a Bucks loss against Cleveland tonight, the Bulls are only 0.5 games out of the eighth seed.  But there is no reason for the Bulls to set their sights on just the eigth seed.  The Bulls have a cupcake schedule to end the season, so they should conceivably go on a run with the way they’re playing.  The Bulls are only 3.0 games behind Philadelphia and Detroit for the 7th and 6th seeds, 4.0 games behind Miami for the 5th seed, and 7.5 games behind Atlanta for the 4th seed.

The Hawks are probably a little out of reach for the Bulls, but the fifth seed is definitely attainable.  The Bulls have 2 more games against the Heat this season, and they can help their case by winning both of them.  If the Bulls can get in that fourth vs. fifth matchup, they might just be able to find themselves back in the second round of the playoffs.

Tonight was a good win against a top Western Conference team, with our roster depleted.  Easily the best Bulls win of the season.