A short-handed Mavericks team takes care of business against the Bulls
The Dallas Mavericks routed the Chicago Bulls 119-99 Wednesday night in Dallas. Luka Doncic led the way for the Mavericks with 27 points and 13 assists, while Nikola Vučević put up 14 points and 10 rebounds in a losing effort for the Bulls. The victory never seemed in doubt for Dallas and was a much needed win on the current homestand after a disappointing loss to the Pacers earlier this week. The blowout victory was especially impressive with the Mavericks dealing with so many injuries, most notably Dereck Lively and PJ Washington.
The Bulls were banged up themselves, missing Lonzo Ball and leading scorer Zach LaVine, and their absence was felt on offense. Chicago struggled shooting the ball, finishing just 42 percent from the field and 29 percent from three.
Dallas had one of their best starts of the season, going on a 17-0 run in the first quarter led by Kyrie Irving’s 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field. However, the mostly-bench lineup featuring Dwight Powell, Spencer Dinwiddie, Quentin Grimes, and Olivier-Maxence Prosper immediately gave up a 15-5 run to the Bulls.
The starters reentered in the second quarter and proceeded to extend the lead. Doncic nearly ended the half with a double-double, finishing with nine assists, the most he’s had in a half this season.
Dallas came out even hotter in the third quarter, outscoring Chicago 32-23 and effectively ending the game. The Mavericks never looked back and eventually finished with a 20-point win.
Here are our main thoughts from the game.
Great offense from the starters
Dallas got a ton of production from their starters, with four starters finishing in double figures. Daniel Gafford had a great game, finishing with an efficient 17 points and seven rebounds. Klay Thompson didn’t have his usual volume, but still chipped in 13 points. Add in the other starters – including Naji Marshall filling in for the injured Washington – and the Dallas starting five finished with 82 points in a game that was effectively over by the end of the third quarter.
If the Mavericks can keep up that all around production, they will be very hard to beat.
Lack of bench production
It wasn’t all great news for Dallas. The bench has been struggling all season and tonight was no exception. The Mavericks bench scored just one point in the first half, coming off a Dinwiddie free throw. They eventually finished with 32 points, but the vast majority was scored in garbage time. While the Mavericks are missing key rotational pieces, the lack of bench scoring has been consistently poor even when Dallas was healthy. It wasn’t a factor in an easy win today, but the bench production is something to monitor going forward.
Giving up offensive rebounds
Another season long struggle for Dallas has been opponent offensive rebounds and tonight was no exception. In the first half, Chicago had eight offensive rebounds, which was the only element working for the Bulls. Dallas cleaned it up a bit in the second half, but Chicago still finished with 14 offensive rebounds, significantly more than their season average of 9.9 per game.
Chicago scored just 12 second chance points off those rebounds, but better teams will take advantage of those opportunities. The return of bigs Lively and Maxi Kleber should help with the rebounding.
Scoring off turnovers
The Mavericks are at their best when they’re limiting turnovers on offense and forcing turnovers on defense. Other than five turnovers from an uncharacteristically sloppy Doncic, Dallas protected the ball well. The defense forced the Bulls into 22 turnovers, which led to 28 points. Compare that to 13 points Chicago scored off Dallas turnovers and that’s nearly the margin of victory.
While the season long issues of the team persist, they didn’t matter tonight. The banged up Mavericks did a great job of securing an easy victory against Chicago.
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