Chicago Bulls: 5 worst losses from 2017-18 NBA season

4. March 21, 2018: Denver Nuggets jump on Bulls early and often

After the front office handed down the mandate for the younger players to get more playing time during the second half of the season, the Bulls featured a variety of different lineups following the All-Star break. In this contest, the lineup was even more unusual, as the Bulls’ top three scorers — Zach LaVine (knee soreness), Lauri Markkanen (back spasms) and Kris Dunn (turf toe) — were all out nursing injuries.

Bearing that in mind, the Bulls rolled out a starting five of Cristiano Felicio, Paul Zipser, Denzel Valentine, Cameron Payne and Justin Holiday. If you followed the team at any point during the season, you know this lineup wouldn’t fare too well regardless of who the opposing team is.

As expected, this game was pretty much decided in the first 12 minutes, with the Nuggets jumping out to a 39-25 lead. Things only got worse from that point as the Nuggets led by as many as 46 points before settling for a 135-102 win.

The 135 points marked the second-highest point total allowed by the Bulls this season – something that did not sit too well with Fred Hoiberg.

"“We’re not coming out with any type of edge,’’ Hoiberg told the Chicago Sun-Times. “No edge defensively whatsoever, and we’re allowing teams to gain confidence early in games, and it just goes downhill from there.’’"

What was the lack of edge was Hoiberg referring to?

Well, the Nuggets shot a blistering 61.4 percent from the field and had seven players in double figures. Aside from the game coming to an end, the only positive from this night was the fact that the reserves produced 56 points.