Horror movie continues for Bulls as they drop nine straight
Give the Bulls some brownie points on St. Patrick's Day for trying to battle through tough conditions. But another fourth-quarter rally wasn't enough to prevent their ninth straight loss.
Just as they did the previous night in Memphis, the Bulls fell behind by 25 points. They got back within 100-93 with 5:48 remaining but never got any closer and lost at Dallas 113-106 on Wednesday.
The only good news is guard Derrick Rose is likely to return from a left wrist sprain on Friday when the Bulls host Cleveland. Center Joakim Noah (plantar fasciitis, left foot) has said he'll try to play Saturday at Philadelphia. Forward Luol Deng (right calf sprain) probably won't be back until next week.
"All the little things almost have to be perfect for us, especially against Dallas and some of the better teams," coach Vinny Del Negro said. "We didn't get some long rebounds. We turned it over. I like the way the guys gutted it out and didn't surrender to it; kept battling. That's a good sign."
One positive sign for the Bulls is some impressive drives to the basket by point guard Acie Law. Rarely used when he first arrived in a trade from Charlotte on Feb. 18, Law scored a combined 40 points the past two games. In his hometown of Dallas, the former Texas A&M star piled up 22 points in just 21 minutes.
The defense wasn't there early, though. The Mavericks (46-22) shot well above 60 percent in the first half and jumped to a 60-35 lead with two minutes left in the second quarter.
The Bulls still trailed by 18 early in the fourth, then picked up their offensive efficiency and went on a 16-6 run. Law's basket brought the Bulls within 98-90, then after Dallas guard Jose Barea hit a jumper, Brad Miller's turnaround and 3-point play closed the lead to 7 with 5:48 left.
The Bulls (31-36) got a defensive stop, but James Johnson was called for traveling on the other end. Barea kept going, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers and a driving lay in to send the home team ahead 108-93 with 3:36 remaining.
"We should be able to play a little bit better defensively, I feel," Del Negro said. "Really what happened, I think, in the first half was we were so inefficient offensively, it got them out in the open court and had a lot of fastbreak points; made the game very easy for them.
"In the second half, we started actually making some shots, which got them into more of a halfcourt game and then we could get our hands on them and battle a little bit."
Dallas hadn't played since last Saturday, when a 32-point home loss to New York snapped a 13-game winning streak. Caron Butler led the Mavs with 27 points, while Dirk Nowitzki scored 26.
Five players on the Bulls scored between 11 and 13 points. Kirk Hinrich (9 points, 7 rebounds) returned to the starting lineup after serving a one-game suspension. Backup center Chris Richard grabbed 9 rebounds in 14 minutes.