The Dallas Mavericks (14-25) are a nothing team going to a nowhere place, after limping into the United Center on Saturday and dropping a 125-107 decision to the Chicago Bulls (18-20).
Seven Bulls scored
in double figures, led by Coby White (22 points, 9-of-15 shooting) and Ayo Dosunmu (20 points on 7-of-9 shooting, eight assists), though none of them really jumped off the page. The Mavs’ inability to stop the Chicago fast break or get a hand in the face of the Bulls’ shooters killed Dallas all night long, until the dam broke in the fourth quarter, turning a routine loss into a snoozer. The Bulls ran all over the Mavs, outscoring Dallas 38-8 in the fast break.
Ryan Nembhard, who was inserted back into the starting lineup in the absence of Anthony Davis, led Dallas with 16 points and six assists in the loss. Naji Marshall added 14, to go along with three steals on defense.
Cormac Karl “Max” Christie nailed two of his first three 3-point attempts in his homecoming to Chicago, the second of which kept the Mavs connected early, 12-8, less than four minutes into the game. Christie was called for goaltending on an Ayo Donsunmu drive midway through the first, and Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd called a late timeout in an attempt to possibly challenge the call. The timeout was granted, but Kidd’s challenge was disallowed. Kidd got hit with a technical for jawing at lead official Scott Foster, and was thrown out of the game with 5:30 left in the first half when he continued to gripe. It was just Kidd’s third ejection as the Mavericks’ head coach.
Moussa Cisse provided a lift off the bench after Kidd’s ejection, soaring for a vicious alley-oop finish from Nembhard to bring the Mavs to within three, down 21-18, just 35 seconds after all the hubbub. Chicago went on a 10-2 run over the next 1:45, though, expanding their lead to 31-20 on Patrick Williams’ long 3-pointer from the left wing.
Dallas gave Chicago too many open looks on defense, and despite shooting 6-of-11 from 3-point range in the opener, the Mavs found themselves down 36-28 after one. Caleb Martin’s last-second driving score fell with .4 seconds on the clock to close the lead to single digits at the end of the first.
Get ready for a heavier dose of guys like Cisse, Jaden Hardy and Caleb Martin, while Davis is on the shelf indefinitely with his latest finger injury, and P.J. Washington missing his third straight game on Saturday with an ankle injury.
We had a Miles Kelly sighting four minutes into the second quarter, as Martin found the rookie two-way guard waiting in the corner on a kick-out pass. Kelly’s leaning 3-ball rattled home to bring the Mavs to within 46-39, then his cutting layup from D’Angelo Russell two possessions later kept Dallas in it, down 51-41 with 7:11 left in the first half.
But Chicago continued to fire at will on the other end, behind 3-of-4 3-point shooting from Isaac Okoro early on. His third of the game, wide open yet again, made it a 49-39 game in the middle of Kelly’s little scoring burst. The Bulls worked the Mavs over for a little 8-0 mini-run after Kelly’s second bucket of the game to increase their lead to 59-41 and force a timeout from Mavs assistant Frank Vogel. The Mavs didn’t score for nearly three minutes after Kelly chipped in his five second-quarter points.
Cooper Flagg sparked a 10-0 Mavericks’ spurt in response when he checked back in, though. He banked in a short jumper before stealing an inbound pass late in the second and finding Nembhard open at the top of the key for his first 3-ball of the game, bringing the Mavs to within 59-48 with less than three minutes to play before the break. Nembhard led Dallas with 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting from deep in the first half, but Dallas went into the locker room down 66-55 at the interval.
Deflated
At no point through the first three quarters did Saturday’s game feel like a win. These Mavs are a ragged bunch, but they do not go gently.
Dallas battled to within six of the lead early in the third on Christie’s drive through the lane to give him 10 points on the night. Flagg’s driving floater with 8:40 left in the third kept the Mavs within eight, down 70-62, and four straight points from Naji Marshall on the next two possessions got Dallas to within four. As the Bulls’ offense cooled after halftime, it appeared yet another clutch game was on the menu.
Then the Mavericks started turning the ball over, once again allowing Chicago to extend their lead back to double digits with five minutes to play in the third. Dallas turned the ball over six times in the third quarter after turning it over just four times in the first half, leading to a 94-79 hill to climb entering the fourth.
That’s when the Mavericks finally curled up into a ball and gave up the goat. Two more Dallas turnovers early in the fourth quarter helped the Bulls extend their lead to 24 points with 7:45 left to play, and that was all she wrote.
You just had to laugh midway through the fourth, with the Mavs down by 26, when Jaden Hardy drove through the lane on a dunk from Klay Thompson and reacted with a demonstrable scream and flex before trotting back down on defense, like he had just somehow unlocked basketball’s secret 27-point shot.
Inside job
The Bulls out-rebounded the Mavericks 35-19 in the first half and 10-5 on the offensive glass. Dallas came into the game with the most points in the paint per game in the NBA over the team’s last 14 games. Chicago destroyed the Mavs on the inside on Saturday, 68-42, in large part due to their advantage on the offensive glass and in transition. In the first half, the Bulls outscored the Mavs 32-18 in the lane.
The upside of ineptitude
The Mavericks can’t rebound, as noted above. Their strong early defensive rating is proving to be more smoke and mirrors than anything. The Bulls had their way with Dallas from the game’s opening tip on Saturday, beating Dallas 19-0 on the fast break in the first half and 38-8 in the win. The Mavericks didn’t score their first fast-break point until early in the fourth quarter on Saturday.
When Dosunmu and Okoro are consistently getting the better of you, you’ve got problems. If you weren’t on Team Tank before Davis’ latest perplexing injury, there’s room under the hatch for you.
We are witness to a team that never should have been assembled. Despite the team’s apparent inability to move Davis immediately, it will be blown up in the very near future. The losses will compound from here, and the team will no doubt put Saturday’s performance against the Bulls on repeat several times throughout the rest of the year.
This season was never about results. We were sold a bill of goods that was never going to leave the warehouse. The upside is the lottery balls we gain along the way, and losses like the one in Chicago on Saturday help the tank advance a little farther across the dystopic wasteland that is the 2025-26 season.
