Nowitzki leads Mavericks past Bulls 122-116
When the Bulls made some cap space-clearing trades last month, management insisted it was still focused on finishing the season strong and making the playoffs.
A few more games like this and fans will have no other choice but to dream about what can be accomplished with the $20 million the Bulls could spend on free agents.
On Saturday at the United Center, Dallas couldn't stop Derrick Rose, who knocked down 15 of 22 shots for 34 points and 8 assists. The Bulls, on the other hand, had no answer for the entire Mavericks lineup.
Dallas shot 56 percent from the field, drilled 11 baskets from 3-point range and had three players score at least 24 points in a 122-116 victory over the Bulls. The Mavs (43-31), currently No. 2 in the Western Conference standings, won their 11th straight game.
"I guess we gave it our all, but they were too good of a team," Rose said.
There weren't many insightful strategic nuggets after the game from the Bulls, who have now lost four straight to drop back to .500. Then again, none were really necessary.
Thanks to their pinpoint shooting, the Mavericks were able to play a simple game. Dirk Nowitzki would create a double-team or quick guards Rodrigue Beaubois and Jose Barea would break down the defense. The Mavs would then simply pass the ball until someone knocked down an open look. Sometimes that was a Caron Butler 3-pointer, other times an open lay-up by Shawn Marion.
"We had trouble stopping them tonight," Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich said. "We didn't play very good team defense and we lost because of it."
Nowitzki led the Mavs with 27 points, while Butler and Beaubois added 24 each. The Bulls obviously couldn't find as many hot hands. Brad Miller scored 17 points and Hinrich had 14. Forward Luol Deng (6 points) couldn't get going and was outscored by Butler 15-0 in the first half.
"Yeah, we need Luol to score, but we scored plenty of points," coach Vinny Del Negro said. "We gave them 56 percent shooting. They've won 11 in a row for a reason."
The game was close for most of the first half, but Dallas finished the second quarter on a 12-4 run to pull ahead 66-55 at intermission. The Bulls (31-31) headed into the fourth quarter trailing by 14 and made one decent run, closing within 98-94 after a Jannero Pargo 3-pointer with eight minutes left.
Dallas called timeout and produced a turnaround from Nowitzki and 3-pointer by Butler to quickly boost the advantage to 103-94.
Down the stretch, the Bulls needed a couple of defensive stops that never arrived. In the final three minutes, the Bulls got within 6 points three times and Dallas always scored on its next possession.
The Bulls are stuck in a losing streak and struggling to stay with good teams while center Joakim Noah rests a sore foot. The next six games are against opponents that are currently at or above .500, beginning with Utah on Tuesday.
"We get our confidence in practice the way we go hard," Rose suggested. "Last year when we made the run toward the playoffs, we picked it up in practice. This year, we're going to have to do the same thing and just find a way to win games."
<p class="factboxtext12col"><b>Mike McGraw's game tracker</b></p>
<p class="factboxtext12col"><b>Mavericks 122, Bulls 116</b></p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Trick shooters: The story of this game was Dallas' offensive excellence. Dirk Nowitzki scored 27 points, Caron Butler and rookie guard Rodrigue Beaubois added 24 each and the Mavs shot 56.3 percent from the field as a team. Dallas won its 11th straight game.</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">No end in sight: The Bulls are just a third of the way into their stretch of nine straight games against opponents that are at or above .500 and already they're 0-3. This was also the third time this week the Bulls lost to a team that should have been tired from playing the second leg of back-to-back games.</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">More bad news: The Bulls' closest competitors in the playoff race - Toronto, Milwaukee, Charlotte and Miami - went a combined 6-0 this weekend.</p>