LaVine scores 34, but Chicago Bulls drop to 0-3 with loss at Dallas
There were plenty of indications the Chicago Bulls might be on the way to their first victory of the season Monday night in Dallas.
Point guard Kris Dunn returned after missing the first two games of the regular season for the birth of his son Lennox.
Zach LaVine made his first 7 shots of the night and finished with 34 points, hitting 30 points for the third time this season in three tries.
And against a rebuilding Mavericks squad, the Bulls led 75-70 late in the third quarter, and Wendell Carter Jr. missed an open 3-pointer in the corner that could have made it an 8-point lead.
From that point, the Bulls devolved into a dismal performance. A flurry of bad turnovers, poor rebounding, confused defense and too much 1-on-1 play flipped the script completely. The Bulls lost 115-109 to drop to 0-3 on the season.
"At the end, I just felt like we lost our composure there in the fourth quarter," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg told reporters after the game. "When they went on a run on us, we tried to get it back individually. We've got to keep working on it. That's something that has to improve. But we lost our composure and we lost our poise. Seven turnovers in the fourth quarter is going to get you beat at the end."
During LaVine's hot start, 4 of his 7 made field goals were from 3-point range. He finally missed a heat-check 3 with 9:25 left in the third quarter for his first errant shot of the night.
LaVine showed a nice all-around game a few minutes later, when late in the shot clock he sprinted to the rim, took several defenders with him, and found Carter for an open dunk. LaVine hit 11 of 15 shots overall with 5 baskets from 3-point range.
But with Dunn a little rusty, the two starting guards combined for 9 turnovers, 5 by LaVine. As a team, the Bulls finished with 19 turnovers.
After falling behind by 14 points late, the Bulls put together a rally and closed within 111-106 with 46.1 seconds left after a 3-pointer by Antonio Blakeney. The Bulls then got a defensive stop, but after Carter grabbed a defensive rebound, he threw it away trying to get it to point guard Cameron Payne and the game was essentially over. Dunn fouled out with 1:28 left.
Jabari Parker added 20 points, scoring 16 in the first half, while Justin Holiday added 16 points, hitting 4 of 6 attempts from 3-point range.
Wesley Mathews led Dallas with 20 points, while rookie guard Luka Doncic added 19 points and 6 assists.
Another Mavs rookie is former Stevenson High School and Villanova star Jalen Brunson. Brunson has seen steady minutes off the bench so far this season. He finished with 6 points and 2 assists in 14 minutes against the Bulls on Monday.
Bulls rookie Chandler Hutchison got extended action for the first time this season and scored his first NBA basket on a nice driving lay-in.
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