Chicago didn’t play a perfect night of basketball, but they found a way to get a narrow home victory against the Mavericks.
Tonight, the 20-41 Bulls at times looked very outmatched by a 19-43 Mavericks team. The only thing that could be viewed as some advantage was a Chicago victory in Dallas earlier in the season.
Neither team had any tangible success as of late; Chicago was 2-8 in their last ten game, Dallas at 3-7 in the same span. Furthermore, the Bulls weren’t at full capacity.
Without Justin Holiday and Robin Lopez yet again, Chicago lacked veteran focus. Those two players provide the presence of experience on the court that simply cannot be replicated with the playbook.
Lacking Lopez to cover Dirk Nowitzki, the German-vet gave the Bulls coverage issues. He scored 18 points in 27 minutes on 6-of-10 shooting. He might’ve been the least-athletic player on the court, but he showed he can still score the ball with proficiency.
Early in the first quarter, the Bulls just looked a step slow. Dallas started on a 10-0 run and while Chicago cut the score to 32-24 by the end of the first 12 minutes, the damage was done. Chicago found themselves playing catch-up for the remainder of play.
While he scored 15 points in the first half, the Bulls had their hands full with Dennis Smith Jr throughout the night. The rookie guard scored 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting. Plus, he gave Chicago defenders a handful throughout the game.
After the first half of play, Chicago trailed 49-48 to Dallas, despite Dallas looking overall better. This is something that continued into the third quarter; Chicago didn’t look great, but they did enough to stay alive
Though early action intrigued, tonight’s game came down to the late shots.
Note a Dirk Nowitzki three-point make at the 10:28 mark in the fourth seemed a semi-dagger, but eventually created a turning point. It boosted Dallas lead to 91-80, but then shots started falling for the Bulls.
An arsenal of Bulls chased Dallas throughout the force, including nice shots by Zach LaVine (who had 16 points) and great point guard play by Kris Dunn (who had 18 points, 7 assists, and 7 rebounds)
However, Bobby Portis took over the game late, hitting three straight shots to give the Bulls a 100-96 lead with 2:50 remaining. Portis also led the Bulls in scoring with 22 points and a fascinating +21 in the plus/minus ratio.
While Portis lead the Bulls in scoring, Lauri Markkanen finally looked comfortable sharing the floor with Zach LaVine. He scored 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting and his ice-in-the-veins three to boost the Bulls lead to 106-98 with 1:18 left greatly boosted his teammates.
Furthermore, Lauri had 12 rebounds including 4 on the offensive end for a very quality double-double.
Tonight’s victory might not be perfect for draft positioning, it does crack a five-game losing slide for the Bulls. It took a late chase to push a bad team into better draft position, but it seemed a morale booster. Dunn, LaVine, and Markkanen looked as on the same page as they have all season.
Next: Bobby Portis flexes yet again in Bulls victory
Chasing a bad team late isn’t exactly a great victory, but it’s a win nonetheless. The Bulls held down the fort improving to 21-41 in tank-season.