Less than 10 minutes into Friday night’s game at the United Center, the Nuggets held a double-digit lead against a young, sub-.500 team playing short-handed.

Sounds like a perfect scenario to chew up another opponent and then remove the tiny pieces with a toothpick.

Instead, it was simply a mirage.

With Carmelo Anthony wincing in pain throughout the game and Kenyon Martin forced to leave because of back spasms, the Nuggets could not keep up with Ben Gordon and the Chicago Bulls.

Gordon scored 23 of his 37 points in the second half, and Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas each had double-doubles to lead the Bulls to a 116-99 win over the Nuggets.

After making three trades in the previous two days, the Bulls had only eight players available and employed a seven-man rotation until the game’s final minute.

“A team like that, you’ve got to capitalize,” Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups said. “You’ve got to step on them and stay aggressive.”

It didn’t help that Anthony was a shadow of his normal self while playing with a bruised left knee. He missed all five of his shot attempts in the fourth quarter and finished with just 12 points on 5-of-18 shooting.

“I think my presence out there somewhat still helped a little bit,” Anthony said. “I was limited to do a lot of things. My first step wasn’t even right. I’ll be all right. I’ve been through a lot worse.”

Depending how his knee feels over the next 36 hours, Anthony said he was unsure whether he would be able to play Sunday against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Denver opens a three-game homestand against Boston on Monday, followed by games against Atlanta and the Los Angeles Lakers.

“I’m going to see how I feel (today), how I feel Sunday,” Anthony said. “It’s going to be hard for me to sit out, but if I have to, I think that (Milwaukee) would be a game I could probably sit out.”

Martin’s status also is up in the air. His back started bothering him Wednesday against Philadelphia and tightened up in the first quarter Friday night.

Martin returned in the second quarter but then shut it down at halftime.

“I couldn’t move, man,” he said. “I ain’t going to hurt my teammates by being out there and getting in the way. ... The more I did, the more I ran and jumped, the tighter it got.”

With Martin and Anthony ailing, the Bulls were able to erase an early 12-point deficit to tie the game at the half.

Chicago pushed the lead to as many as 11 points in the third quarter, only to see the Nuggets tie the game again with 8:09 remaining in the fourth.

Poor shot selection, lack of ball movement and untimely turnovers ultimately doomed Denver as the Bulls scored the next 10 points over a 2:47 span.

The Nuggets never threatened the rest of the way as Chicago finished the game on a 29-12 run.

“Gordon got going crazy and our offense in the second half was too individualistic, too ‘me’ basketball and not enough team basketball,” coach George Karl said.

“We never moved the ball or passed the ball to each other well enough to win an offensive game that they were playing.”

Denver’s defense wasn’t much better.

With newly acquired impact players Brad Miller and John Salmons watching in street clothes, the Bulls scored 95 points in the final three quarters to hand the Nuggets just their third loss in the past 13 games.

“We were just trying to play together,” Chicago point guard Derrick Rose said. “I’m surprised we won the game.”

Not Billups. After scoring 16 points on 7-of-7 shooting in the first half, he missed 7 of 9 shots in the second half after the Bulls made some defensive adjustments.

“I thought we got a little passive,” Billups said. “They’ve got a lot of young athletes, guys that can fill it up. It’s no wonder why we lost.”

ETC: Nuggets forward Nene and Billups combined to go 15-of-17 from the field in the first half. Nene made his first eight shots of the game and scored 17 points in the first half but went 1-for-9 the rest of the way. ... Denver swingman Linas Kleiza ended an 0-for-16 drought from three-point range by hitting one with 1:01 remaining in the third quarter. ... Anthony played without tape on his middle fingers for the first time since breaking a bone in his right hand on Jan. 5.

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