Energy level was a glaring issue in the Chicago Bulls' one-sided loss to Denver Nuggets

The Bulls came out of the gates sluggish and paid dearly for it.

© Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

As the adage says, "It's not how you start. It's how you finish." However, there are times when the start dictates how the rest of the game will play out. That was certainly the case for the Chicago Bulls in their one-sided loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night. The Bulls came out flat and were never really able to recover, eventually falling by a final score of 126-103.

Sluggish start

On paper, the Bulls were supposed to have the upper hand. After all, three days had passed since their last game, and they had two "good" practices, as head coach Billy Donovan put it. On the other hand, the Nuggets were at the tail-end of a four-game road trip. All things considered, it looked like the Bulls had a good chance of picking up a win.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite play out that way. The Bulls looked sluggish from the get-go, falling behind 32-20 at the end of the first quarter. They were able to trim the deficit down to 11 in the second, but that's as close as they would get. The Nuggets went on a run to close the half and take a commanding 62-47 lead into the locker room.

All-Star wingman Zach LaVine had a blunt assessment of the team's performance in the loss that dropped them to 6-8.

"They were playing harder than us. That can't happen. You try to pick it up. Against good teams, it's not going to work out that way all the time. We didn't look good offensively. We couldn't stop them defensively. And that's the result you get," said LaVine.

"That's on all of us collectively. You just can't have a showing like that at home. It's upsetting. It's unacceptable from all of us, 1 through 15, the coaching staff, everybody. We got our butt kicked out there."

Zach LaVine on tonight’s loss: “You just can’t have a performance like that at home. It’s upsetting.” pic.twitter.com/GWBeGfGCx6

— Darnell Mayberry (@DarnellMayberry) November 14, 2022

On to the next

Donovan said his team needs to be better at handling adversity. He added that they failed to respond accordingly on Sunday night and that they need to be better moving forward.

"We've got a lot of guys who care. When things don't go well, we can get into a place where we can live in past plays that are basically over and done with, and we're not getting back. And we've gotta be able to compete and embrace the challenge of the next play. That's an area we have to get better at," Donovan said.

Didn't have it tonight. On to the next. pic.twitter.com/mqZ5pfLC6U

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) November 14, 2022