LaVine starts hot, Bulls beat Dallas
Who was hotter on Sunday in Chicago, Aaron Rodgers or Zach LaVine?
Rodgers didn't throw an incomplete pass in the first half against the Bears at Soldier Field. LaVine hit 9 of his first 10 shots against Dallas at the United Center.
By the end of the day, LaVine finished with 39 points and the Bulls held off the Mavericks 118-108 at the United Center. It's too soon to say the Bulls are headed to the playoffs like the Bears are. But after seven games, the Bulls do have the same record as the star-studded Brooklyn Nets (3-4).
With Dallas star Luka Doncic sidelined with a quad injury, LaVine took the opportunity to dominate like Doncic normally would. The tricky part was getting LaVine's points to sync up with a Bulls' victory.
"I've always said to him, it can't just be you shooting the ball," Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. "You've got to make plays. You have to read the defense. You can't predetermine and make up your mind of what you want to do. What is the defense saying to you to do?"
In the first quarter, something told LaVine to shoot. He scored 21 points in the opening 12 minutes. It was the second-highest scoring quarter of LaVine's career, trailing only his memorable 27-point fourth quarter in Charlotte on Nov. 23, 2019.
The Bulls still trailed for most of the first three quarters. A turning point may have arrived at the four-minute mark of the third when LaVine, sitting on 33 points, was double-teamed on the perimeter. A couple of quick passes led to a Coby White 3-pointer from the opposite side of the court and the Bulls led 74-73.
The Mavs closed within 106-104 with 3:27 left after 2 free throws by Maxi Kleber. LaVine came back, drew a foul and scored his first points of the fourth quarter to stop the run. After a Mavs miss, LaVine threw a great pass to a cutting Otto Porter for a lay in, then White added a 3 to push the lead to 113-105 with 1:33 left.
"I felt like he made the right plays coming down the stretch, even though it wasn't always shooting the basketball," Donovan said. "He's really trying and he's working. I've just tried to tell him he has to stay aggressive and sometimes he's not as aggressive as he needs to be.
"That doesn't mean shooting, but it means with his athleticism getting out in transition, attacking the basket, attacking the paint, taking your shots when they're there. He was really big-time for us tonight, he had half our points in the first half."
White came alive in the second half to finish with 23 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, while Porter scored 15 points. Stevenson High School grad Jalen Brunson did his best Doncic impression and led Dallas with 31 points and 7 assists.
Donovan continued to show faith in backup center Daniel Gafford (12 points), who's gotten better at using his athleticism to make plays. Wendell Carter played 23 minutes, Gafford 19 and the Bulls finished the game without either center on the floor, using a veteran-heavy lineup of Porter, Thad Young and Garrett Temple with LaVine and White.
Before the game, Donovan confirmed there are now two Bulls players sidelined due to positive COVID-19 tests, Tomas Satoransky and Chandler Hutchison. Two others, Lauri Markkanen and Ryan Arcidiacono remain out due to health and safety protocols, and those two are not likely to play during the upcoming four-game West Coast road trip, which begins Tuesday in Portland.
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls