And the longer they took, the more confident Nuggets coach George Karl became that they would overturn the shot.

"Fortunately I just read the rule a couple of days ago that with three-tenths of a second you can't pivot or turn," said Karl, who got his 939th win to move past Red Auberbach into eighth place on the NBA's all-time list. "It doesn't count. The longer it took, I thought the more it was in our favor. We've talked about missing that second free throw. It's a perfect situation with five-tenths, it's imperfect at six or seven."

Carmelo Anthony(FSY) scored a season-low 20 points for Denver, while Billups added 17, and Kenyon Martin(FSY) had 15 points and 10 rebounds after missing a game with a bruised left fibula.

Derrick Rose(FSY) led Chicago with 22 points, while Luol Deng(FSY) scored 21. Noah had a career-high 21 rebounds for the Bulls, who had won three straight.

Both teams struggled from the outside, with the Bulls hitting 4 of 18 three-pointers and the Nuggets 5 of 16.

There was never really a big run in the game.

It was 87-83 after Anthony tracked down a loose ball following a broken play by the Bulls and Martin dunked with 1:56 left.

Hinrich buried a jumper to make it a two-point game and then picked up a loose ball after a missed 3 by John Salmons(FSY), keeping the possession alive. Rose then followed a blocked layup by Noah with one of his own to tie it at 87 with 33.9 seconds left, and he answered Anthony's jumper with two free throws with 10.4 seconds remaining, helping set up the wild finish.