DENVER — It didn’t take long for the team’s enforcer to get onto the scene.
All 195 pounds of him, and that’s on a good day, likely with shoes on.
Then again, Bulls guard Dalen Terry wouldn’t have it any other way
There was a hard foul on teammate Patrick Williams in the third quarter of the eventual improbable win over a much more talented — and rested — Denver squad late Monday night, and words were being exchanged. Terry’s kind of party to crash.
So of course he identified whoever he felt looked guilty, ran into the gathering underneath the basket, and started chirping it up, directing his anger at the Nuggets’ Bruce Brown.
“I didn’t like the way he fouled Pat,” Terry said. “I said to Bruce Brown, ‘Why did you do that?’ “
In those exact expletive-free words?
Terry laughed, “Yeah, I said it just like that.”
Not the only action of Terry’s night, either. Far from it.
It’s been easy for coach Billy Donovan to find consistent playing time for reserves like Williams, Ayo Dosunmu and Jalen Smith this season, and while those three were key in helping pull out the win on a night in which the starters looked gassed from the double-overtime affair in Utah 24 hours earlier, they didn’t do it alone.
No, this was a game in which Donovan had to call on Jevon Carter, as well as Terry and Julian Phillips. The 30-year-old “Unc” of the trio and his two high-energy “nephews” that Carter mentors/sometimes babysits.
That’s really where the game was won, as Carter finished with 15 points — all threes — and was a plus-20 in plus/minus, Terry with five points, four assists, three rebounds and was a plus-18, and Phillips with a basket, three rebounds and a plus-8.
That’s why Donovan praised all three after the game, especially Carter, who the coach said was one of the hardest working players he’s ever been around.
“It means a lot, you know, coming from a Hall of Fame coach,” Carter said of Donovan’s comments. “What more can he say. That’s my guy, I love Billy.
“Whenever he calls me, I’ll be ready. We just come in and play. No matter what the score is we’re going to treat it like it’s 0-0. We’re just going to play and let the results take care of themselves.”
A valuable lesson that Carter has preached to Terry and Phillips, as all three are swimming in uncertainty. Carter is a free agent after the 2025-26 campaign, while Terry and Phillips are at the point where decisions have to be made on their rookie contracts.
Not ideal when lack of playing time interferes with the hopes of showcasing talent, and if not showing it to the Bulls, other teams in the league.
“That’s about our professionalism,” Terry said. “JC (Carter) has taught me that no matter what, just be ready. And with Julian, just being almost the same age, it means something when we’re out there playing together because we’re going through this journey together.
“It shows that even with the guys that don’t get the minutes that they maybe deserve, we’re all good players, we’re all NBA players that can make an impact.”
The win in Denver also continued to show that on a team full of mostly choir boys, Terry remains as close to an enforcer as this roster has. After all, even with his slight build, this is a guy that got into the face of menacing Detroit big man Isaiah Stewart. Few do that.
That’s just a piece of the “brotherhood” that the three bench players share.
“There’s a lot of ups and downs, but when you have someone to lean on, it really feels good when you have those moments together,” Phillips added. “It really is a brotherhood.”
