Morning Box Score: Bulls Lose Heartbreaker To Nuggets

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Nov 11, 2009 4:00PM

It was a hard-fought, back-and-forth battle at the United Center last night, complete with buzzer-beater drama but it was also a game ultimately decided by the refs last night as the Denver Nuggets edged the Bulls 90-89. This morning, Bulls fans are bitterly muttering to themselves about the final call that cost the Bulls the game when a Brad Miller buzzer-beater was waved off by the officials after an instant replay review. We've watched it two dozen times and it still seems too close to call. Though it's only a Level X on the Sports Guy's Level of Losing scale, we still feel like it was a Stomach Punch game. As for the previous 47:59.7 of the game, Denver led by as many as 10 points in the second quarter, but the Bulls chipped their way back into the game and did so again in the fourth quarter when - with six minutes remaining - Denver extended the lead back out to seven. Derrick Rose led all scorers with 22 points, Luol Deng had 21 points, and Joakim Noah was a monster on the boards, pulling down 21 rebounds. The Bulls will have to shake off last night's game pretty quick; they're in Toronto tonight (6 p.m., WCIU).

Somehow the refs determined there was conclusive evidence to wave the shot off. We don't see how. Check out video for yourself after the jump (Miller's play comes at 1:40 in).