Nikola Jokić didn’t last long in Chicago on Tuesday night.

The Denver Nuggets star was just beginning to warm into the game in the second quarter as the Bulls scrabbled to chip down a six-point deficit. When center Nikola Vučević swiped Jokić while contesting a shot with barely a minute left in the first half, the Nuggets center immediately took it up with referee Mousa Dagher while jogging back on defense.

The interaction lasted three seconds, but that was enough. Dagher immediately ejected Jokić from the game, drastically shifting the tone of the matchup with 1:02 left in the first half.

Jokić and Denver coach Michael Malone protested the ejection on the court. On the NBC Sports Chicago home broadcast commentators Adam Amin and Stacey King criticized the decision even though it benefited the Bulls. And Chicago fans weren’t pleased with the decision.

Although it wasn’t an official theme night, the game was marketed toward the Serbian community in Chicago — home to the second-largest population of Serbs in the world outside of the nation’s capital, Belgrade — with ticket packages offered in anticipation of Jokić’s sole game in the city this season. Boos descended from the crowd as fans realized Jokić had been thrown out of the game.

After the game crew chief Mark Lindsay declined to specify the content of Jokić’s complaint, but he told a pool reporter the center “directed profane language at the official that by our standards warranted an ejection.”

Malone also chose not to repeat the language that Jokic used, but disagreed it necessitated an immediate ejection. “When I heard what he said, I said ‘I don’t understand the problem because when I grew up that was a term of endearment,’” Malone said.

But Jokić was less coy, admitting that he told the officials to “call the (expletive) foul” and used the word “mother(expletive)” directly before he was ejected.

“I think sometimes what I said is not even a technical,” Jokić said. “So it is what it is. I crossed the line. But sometimes that word doesn’t cross the line.”

A veteran in disputing referees in Serbian, Vučević offered his own advice after the game: “You can’t do it in English.”

Yet despite missing Jokić and Jamal Murray — who sat out of the game with an ankle injury — the Nuggets still held off the Bulls’ attempt at a comeback in the second half for a 114-106 win.

The Bulls are now on a two-game losing skid with a 9-16 record as they enter a three-game road trip with matchups against the Miami Heat and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Here are three other takeaways from the loss:

1. The Nuggets took control of the third quarter without their star.

Jokić’s absence might have seemed like an advantage for the Bulls, but it didn’t play that way on the court in the third quarter.

The Nuggets went on a 15-6 run in less than four minutes midway through the third quarter, which allowed them to establish a 16-point lead. The Bulls slowly chipped away at that deficit throughout the second half but never reduced the lead below nine points.

The Bulls had already struggled to start the game with the energy that had defined their last five games. They briefly fell to a double-digit deficit in the opening quarter before taking a one-point lead for 10 seconds, their sole advantage of the game.

2. The bench struggled to produce with an injury-limited rotation.

Both teams were on the back end of a traveling back-to-back, and the Bulls were fresh off an overtime thriller against the Bucks which further taxed their resiliency. That physical toll was heightened as the Bulls played a second consecutive game missing both Zach LaVine (foot) and Alex Caruso (ankle) due to injury.

LaVine will likely be sidelined until January, but Caruso’s injury is expected to be shorter term with a potential return this week. But with two key players sidelined, the Bulls bench struggled to make an impact in Tuesday’s game.

The bench combined for only 26 points and five assists in the loss. Torrey Craig and Jevon Carter both helped to invigorate the defense off the bench, but the lack of offensive production left Coby White and Vučević to provide half of the team’s total scoring.

3. Coby White extends his 3-point shooting streak to 12 games, but his 3-point accuracy dips.

Record-setting has become a norm for Coby White, who extended his franchise-record streak of scoring three or more 3-pointers in a game to 12 consecutive games. White went 5-for-10 from the arc Tuesday, leading the Bulls with 27 points.

The rest of the Bulls did not fare as well. Excluding White, the team went 8-for-30 (26.7%) in 3-point shooting. Patrick Williams (2-for-5) and Jevon Carter (3-for-8) were the only other Bulls to score multiple 3-pointers. Long-range shooting has been a buoying force for the Bulls during their recent offensive uptick, but Tuesday’s loss served as a reminder of how fickle this offense can appear if shooting dries up.

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