Mavericks Bounce Back With Dominant Win Over Bulls, 119-99

Despite both teams entering the game short-handed, the Mavericks were able to take advantage of their Eastern Conference foe

Nov 6, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) celebrates with Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) during the first quarter against the Chicago Bulls at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

It was a banged-up matchup between the Chicago Bulls and Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night, as the Mavericks were missing Dereck Lively II, PJ Washington, Dante Exum, and Maxi Kleber, while Chicago was missing Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball.

With those injuries, Dallas had their first different starting lineup of the season: Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall, and Daniel Gafford. Chicago started Coby White, Josh Giddey, Ayo Dosunmu, Patrick Williams, and Nikola Vucevic.

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Dallas wanted to get off to a better start than they did against Indiana on Monday, or for most first quarters this season, really. They also wanted to get Klay Thompson more involved, getting him some early shot attempts, but he missed his first three shots. It was Kyrie Irving scoring six straight points that allowed the Mavs to tie the score at nine early on, and then a Luka Doncic three gave them the lead. Klay finally got on the board with a three after that to extend the lead.

That slow start would not be the theme of this first quarter, as Dallas made eight straight baskets in the middle of the quarter, allowing them to take a 24-13 lead. The Bulls closed the lead to 27-24 with around two minutes left in the opening frame, but a made three by Doncic and a bad foul by Jalen Smith on Doncic as the clock expired gave the Mavs a 32-24 lead at the end of the quarter. Kyrie Irving's 15 points was the big difference here.

The Mavs started the second quarter on a 7-0 run to get the lead back to double-digits. Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu had rough starts to this game, combining to score one point on 0/12 shooting from the floor and 0/9 from three. Despite that, Chicago was able to make dents in the lead any time Luka Doncic checked out. After the Mavs went up 43-28, Doncic checked out, and the Bulls immediately responded with a 9-0 run to get back in the game.

Doncic would check back in after that Chicago run, and the lead got right back up to double digits. Coby White's first basket finally came with a minute left in the first half, but the Mavs would take a 56-45 lead into halftime. Doncic was superb in the first 24 minutes with 17 points and nine assists, although he did have three turnovers, as well. Still, he was a +27 in a game they led by 11.

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A quick 6-0 run to start the half by the Mavs forced a timeout by Chicago just a couple of minutes in. That timeout would not work as the Mavs forced three turnovers, blocked a shot, and scored another seven points to quickly go up by 25. Dosunmu, who started the game 0/9, finally broke his streak with two straight threes to end the Dallas run.

This time, the Mavericks were able to sustain a lead with Luka Doncic on the bench in the third quarter. Chicago got the lead down to 16, but a flagrant foul on Nikola Vucevic for hitting Dwight Powell in the face (stop me if you've heard that before) was part of a four-point trip to extend the lead back to 20. Then, Doncic came back in and led the Mavs to an 88-68 lead entering the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter started with a few quick baskets by the Mavs to push the lead right back to 25. That would be enough to allow the Mavs to coast to the finish and win 119-99.

Luka Doncic led the way with 27 points, 13 assists, seven rebounds, and four steals, but he did have five turnovers, too. Kyrie Irving had 17 points, with 15 of those coming in the first quarter, as did Daniel Gafford. Dallas broke this game open in large part because of their defensive effort, forcing 22 turnovers and holding the Bulls to 41.9% shooting from the floor (it was under 40% before some late baskets by Chicago).

Because of the big lead and the injuries, it gave the Mavs a real look at Olivier-Maxence Prosper and was inconsistent. The effort was there, but it was often erratic. The game started to slow down for him in the second half, but he's likely not ready for consistent minutes when the team is fully healthy.

Nikola Vucevic led the Bulls with 14 points and 10 rebounds, rookie Matas Buzelis had 13 points, and Josh Giddey had 10. It wasn't a great performance for any of their guys without Zach LaVine

The Mavericks improve to 5-3 and will finish their five-game home stand on Friday night against the Phoenix Suns.

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