Chicago Bulls: Bench comes in clutch in huge win over Mavs

On an afternoon where the Chicago Bulls were able to stave off a Dallas Mavericks team sporting a healthy superstar point guard in Luka Doncic and talented big man in forward Kristaps Porzingis, the fan base can be confident in the rebuild’s direction a bit more than they were yesterday. The Bulls were able to shake off a four-game losing streak on Jan. 17, by taking care of business against Luka and the Mavs by a comfortable double-digit margin.

The win over the Mavs now moves first-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Bulls to a record of 5-8 on the regular season so far. And the loss for the Mavs and longtime head coach Rick Carlisle moves them to a record of 6-6 on the season, including two to the Bulls in particular.

It’s rare that you will get a Bulls team that is still going through a rebuild that is going to be able to beat a mostly healthy playoff contender from the Western Conference on the road. Not only that, it looks like the Bulls will have swept this Mavs team in two games this regular season.

What powered the Bulls to get this win over the Mavs was the solid play of their bench and fourth-year power forward Lauri Markkanen. The Bulls got double-digit point efforts out of multiple players off the bench, namely veteran shooting guard Garrett Temple.

With Markkanen back in the rotation, Donovan was able to move veteran small forward Otto Porter Jr. back to the bench. OPJ occupied more of a sixth man role this season when the starting five is fully healthy.

Markkanen registered a team and season-high 29 points in this game, to go along with 10 rebounds, three assists, no steals, no blocks, and two turnovers. And he shot an efficient 10-of-19 from the field, 2-of-7 from beyond the arc, and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.

Coming off the bench, Temple gave the Bulls 21 points, three rebounds, three assists, two steals, two blocks, and one turnover. He shot 9-of-15 from the field, 2-of-4 from beyond the arc, and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line. This was definitely the best game Temple played in a Bulls uniform so far.

The Bulls also got 15 points from veteran forward Thaddeus Young and 14 from OPJ off the bench to give the wing/forward rotation a nice boost. It also helped to make up for the fact that second-year point guard Coby White gave the Bulls zero points, and rookie forward Patrick Williams gave them just five.

It is also worth mentioning how standout shooting guard Zach LaVine and third-year center Wendell Carter Jr. contributed in other respects in this game. LaVine only registered 10 points in this game, but he did have a season-high 10 assists. Meanwhile, WCJ only posted 12 points, but had seven rebounds, five steals, and one block.

While Luka did slow down in the second half, he registered a game-high 36 points, to go along with a whopping 16 rebounds, 15 assists, two steals, no blocks, and five turnovers. He shot 13-of-30 from the field, 6-of-11 from beyond the arc, and 4-of-6 from the free-throw line.

There were just six other occasions this season where a single player took at least 30 attempts from the field in one game. Luka did that on this day, and the Mavs still fell short to a Bulls team that bounced back to a four-game skid in a huge way.

Next up for Markkanen and the Bulls is a meeting with the Houston Rockets at home at the United Center in Chicago on Jan. 18. Tip off time between the Bulls and Rockets is set for 7 p.m. CT. And the Rockets are coming off a tough loss to the San Antonio Spurs from back on Jan. 16.