The Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz 107-99 at United Center on Saturday, ending the opponents' four-game winning streak and undefeated record.

DeMar DeRozan shined more than anyone else on the floor after going 13-22 in field goals (FGs) to get 32 points, six rebounds and three assists. Though he only took one shot at the 3-point line and missed it, DeRozan was lethally 10-18 in the middle range.

"We go out there and play extremely hard for one another," said DeRozan after the game. "Definitely be hard on ourselves when things don't go our way, especially defensively. ... No matter who we're playing, we're going to go out there and try to execute to the best of our abilities."

DeRozan might be the only Bull who shot well in Saturday's game. Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic and Lonzo Ball combined were only 17-49 from the floor. LaVine only made one shot out of the paint; Ball missed five of his six triple attempts; Vucevic watched 15 of his shots miss the hoop. This was not a well-shooting game no matter how you look at it.

But the Bulls still won because the Jazz were even more disappointing on offense. 3-point-shooting has been the lifeline of the Jazz but they were only 11-38 from there. The team trailed in both the first and third quarter during which they missed 16 out of 18 shots from the arc. By contrast, when the Jazz could drain triples, like they did in Q2 (5-11) and Q4 (4-9), they were the better team of the two.

The other problem exposed in this loss of the Jazz was lack of backup orchestrator. Without Mike Conley, the team committed 20 turnovers which were turned into 25 points by the Bulls. Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles and Jordan Clarkson, the three seeming ball-handlers of the team, had a total of 14 turnovers while delivering only nine assists.

"Tonight, we were just reckless with the ball," said Mitchell after the game." I think just mental mistakes played into a lot of it. When we got into our stuff, it looked good and it looked fluid. But I think the biggest thing is just being able to play through the pressure – physical pressure, I mean."

Timberwolves throw away last chance to come back

The Denver Nuggets edged over the Minnesota Timberwolves 93-91 at Target Center on Saturday, avoiding back-to-back losses.

The Timberwolves had the chance to drag the game into overtime in the last possession. Back then, Nikola Jokic received the ball when there were 12 seconds remaining and tried to drive in from the 3-point line but Towns cut the ball off his hands.

The Timberwolves launched fast break with number advantage of 3-2. Anthony Edwards passed the ball to D'Angelo who then gave it to Malik Beasley. Beasley and Edwards were both under the rim and the only Nugget fast enough to return to defense was Will Barton between them.

Beasley could've easily thrown the ball to the air for Edwards to complete an alley-oop or made a regular pass for Edwards to score an easy layup.

Nonetheless, Beasley decided to challenge Barton himself. Barton may not be as explosive as Edwards, he's still athletic enough to block Beasley's powerless layup. Though Edwards had the offensive rebound, Jokic followed up as well and denied Edwards' putback shot, making sure that the Nuggets left Minnesota with a win.

This was supposed to be a clash between the league's top 2 offensive centers, Jokic and Towns. Jokic continued to play as the pillar of the Nuggets dropping 26 points, 19 rebounds and seven assists. He even had three blocks. By contrast, Towns only got 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

But Towns made rare defensive contributions, tussling with Jokic in multiple one-on-one occasions. His existence was partly why Jokic was only 4-8 under the rim and committed seven turnovers.

Unfortunately, the Timberwolves were extremely dependent on Towns with their offense. When he failed to perform like he usually does in this area, the team's offense was totally disunited. Edwards and Russell were combined 12-34 in FGs and 2-12 in triples. The two also had six turnovers. The game would not have been so close if it weren't for the 6-10 shooting performance by Beasley from the 3-point line.

Kid, welcome to the NBA

The Detroit Pistons finally pocketed their first win of the season after beating the Orlando Magic 110-103 at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.

The competition between two tanking teams was not as attractive as the NBA debut of Cade Cunningham, the first-overall selection of the 2021 Class. He missed the Pistons' previous four games due to an ankle injury.

Having played about 19 minutes in the game, the 20-year-old guard from Oklahoma State University went 1-8 in FGs and missed all five triple attempts to get two points, seven rebounds, two assists, one block and two turnovers. His only made-shot was a layup dropped after beating Jalen Suggs, who was the fifth selection from the same class, at the 3-point line.

Suggs did not shine either on Saturday as he was 3-13 from the floor to get 10 points, five rebounds, six assists and two steals in 26 minutes.

"I knew there would be rust, timing. You can't go a month (without playing) and come out and expect to play the way you want," said Dwane Casey, head coach of the Pistons, of Cunningham. "I like the effort, the intensity he played with, the way he pushed the ball, moved the ball, tried to make the right decisions."

"I think it was good. I feel like coming in, just being able to make some plays off the ball, get some rebounds. I felt like I was solid defensively," said Cunningham himself after the game. "And, I mean those are the points that I really wanted to come out and just prove to myself that my ankle was straight and that I could move, guard and do everything else. So, I got all the jitters out now and now I can just go play free."

"I wouldn't say it was anything I didn't envision or I couldn't imagine it being like. But, whenever you step out there, it's always different than what you might've had in your head as far as once you get out there, all the time you spent trying to prepare your mind for it, once you get out there, you're still gonna feel the over-excitement of just wanting to play."

Other games on Saturday (away teams come first):

Boston Celtics 112-115 Boston Celtics

New York Knicks 123-117 New Orleans Pelicans

Toronto Raptors 97-94 Indiana Pacers

Atlanta Hawks 94-122 Philadelphia 76ers

Miami Heat 129-103 Memphis Grizzlies

San Antonio Spurs 102-93 Milwaukee Bucks

Oklahoma City Thunder 82-103 Golden State Warriors

Cleveland Cavaliers 92-101 Phoenix Suns