The Denver Nuggets (17-28) square off against the visiting Chicago Bulls (25-19) at the Pepsi Center. The game gets underway at 9:00 pm ET on Friday, Feb. 5 and will air on CSC and ALT.
The Nuggets lost to the Hawks 119-105 the last time they played. Will Barton finished with 21 points to lead the team. The Bulls, meanwhile, are coming off an 89-84 loss to the Heat in their last outing. Pau Gasol had a solid game, posting his 25th double-double of the season with 19 points and 17 rebounds.
The stingy Bulls defense should have a clear edge in terms of effective field goal percentage. They rank third in the league in forcing misses (opponents’ effective field goal percentage of 46.6%), while the brick-laying Nuggets offense is 27th with a mark of 47.9%.
This will be the second matchup of the season between these two teams. The Bulls won the first game 99-90. Gasol played a big role with 26 points and 19 rebounds.
Notes
In games where they allow fewer than 100 points, the Chicago Bulls are a fantastic 19-3. In games where they score fewer than 100 points, the Denver Nuggets have an underachieving record of 2-16.
Chicago is a subpar 6-16 when it gives up 100 or more points. Denver has a 15-12 record when it hits triple digits.
Chicago’s offense and Denver’s defense both rank 26th this season. Chicago has an offensive rating of 101.3 and Denver has a defensive rating of 106.8.
Denver has an average field goal percentage of 43.2%. Chicago is a poor 7-13 when opponents have a similar or higher field goal percentage.
On average, the Denver Nuggets attempt 23.0 three point field goals per game and the Chicago Bulls attempt 21.0 per game. In games where they attempt at least 25 threes, Denver is 9-12, while Chicago has a losing record of 3-6.
Denver has an assist to turnover ratio of 1.58 this season (ranked 15th), while Chicago ranks lower at 17th with an A/TO of 1.55.
Chicago is the best rebounding team in the NBA this season with 48.9 per game. On the other side, Denver is in the top half of the league, ranking 10th with 44.3 per game.
The Chicago Bulls rank fifth in offensive rebounding, while the Denver Nuggets rank 20th in defensive rebounding.
Denver averages a forced turnover rate of 13.8% this season. Chicago has a 9-12 record when they suffer a turnover rate equal to or exceeding this.
