Dec. 03--The Bulls held off the Nuggets 99-90 to improve to 7-1 at home Wednesday night at the United Center. Pau Gasol's 26 points and 19 rebounds and 19 points from Jimmy Butler led the Bulls, who held the Nuggets to 38.7 percent shooting. Will Barton's 16 points led the Nuggets, who have lost eight straight.
Turning point: Gasol scored six points in a 12-2 fourth-quarter run that gave the Bulls the lead for good.
Tribune player of game: Gasol. He posted his fifth straight double-double after leading the NBA in that category last season.
Key number: 30. The Bulls racked up 30 second-chance points to just 17 for the Nuggets.
The quote: "We got stops and rebounds and executed down the stretch." -- Doug McDermott
Injury update: The Nuggets were without Jusuf Nurkic, Wilson Chandler and Gary Harris. The Bulls were down Kirk Hinrich and Mike Dunleavy and lost Nikola Mirotic to a concussion in the first quarter.
Up next: vs. Hornets, 7 p.m., Saturday, WGN-9, WMVP-AM 1000.
