Zach LaVine posts his worst game of the season to date in loss to Mavs

The Chicago Bulls delivered one of their more disappointing performances of the 2021-22 regular season to date to round out the weekend. Second-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Bulls saw some of their top stars fall flat in a convincing double-digit loss to superstar point guard Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on the road at the American Airlines Center on the night of Jan. 9.

A down night almost across the board for the top stars for Donovan and the Bulls resulted in this 113-99 loss against the Mavs on Jan. 9. The lone exception to that could be considered the play of star shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan.

DeRozan at least came up with 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 from the free-throw line. He also registered four rebounds, eight assists, one steal, no blocks, and one turnover.

But the duo of star shooting guard Zach LaVine and center Nikola Vucevic really fell flat in this game. Vucevic missed the rim completely on too many shots here. He went 6-of-17 from the field. At least four or five of his near dozen field goal misses completely missed the rim.

LaVine’s play should be the main topic of discussion from this game, though. He tied a team-high in this game with 20 points, along with two rebounds, two assists, two steals, no blocks, and four turnovers. And LaVine shot just 7-of-21 from the field, 2-of-7 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.

Chicago Bulls get a rare off night from Zach LaVine in a loss to the Mavericks

There will be games where LaVine is just cold in terms of his shooting from the field. But this is where the supporting cast for the Bulls really needs to step up.

Anytime where the Bulls get poor nights from both LaVine and Vucevic, beating playoff contenders like the Mavs will be an incredibly difficult feat. That is especially true when the Bulls are missing guys like point guard Alex Caruso and shooting guard/forward Javonte Green.

That’s not to mention DeRozan only scoring 20 points, point guard Lonzo Ball scoring in the single digits and only one player scoring in double figures off the bench.

All in all, this looks like it was about the worst performance of the season for LaVine. At least in terms of box plus/minus, this was the worst outing of the season so far for LaVine. He registered a poor -8.7 box plus/minus in this loss to the Mavs.

This was also LaVine’s second-lowest game score of the season, next to his off-night in an Oct. 23 win over the Detroit Pistons.

It’s also worth noting that this game saw LaVine register his second-worst true shooting percentage, tied for the lowest offensive rating, and second-worst effective field goal percentage of the season so far.

LaVine clearly had an off night for the Bulls. And I’ll mention again that these types of games are going to happen.

The problem is that the Bulls are going to need someone else stepping up in the process if LaVine is shooting just 33 percent from the field on more than 20 attempts. Vucevic coming up flat the way he did really spelled doom for the Bulls.

Following this double-digit loss to the Mavs on Jan. 9, the Bulls are sporting a record of 26-11. That’s still good for first place in the Eastern Conference standings. Next up for LaVine and the Bulls is a meeting with the Detroit Pistons at home on Jan. 11.