Mavericks blast weary Bulls
DALLAS -- Harrison Barnes and Wesley Matthews combined for 48 points and nine 3-pointers to lead the Dallas Mavericks to just their fourth win of the season, a wire-to-wire 107-82 victory over the fatigued Chicago Bulls on Saturday night at American Airlines Center.
Matthews poured in a team-high and season-high-tying 26 points and buried a season-high seven of his 11 3-point attempts to give him 19 threes in his past four games. Barnes, Dallas' leading scorer with 13-time All-Star Dirk Nowitzki sidelined for much of this season, finished with 22 points.
The Bulls (11-8) arrived in Dallas in the early morning after wrapping up an impressive home win Friday night against the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers. They left superstar Dwyane Wade at home in Chicago to take the night off during this stretch of four games in five nights.
The rest of the Bulls couldn't muster up the energy after Friday's emotional victory to even be competitive with the team holding the worst record in the NBA. Dallas (4-15) got off to a 23-6 lead after Chicago was stuck on two points for the first six minutes.
While the Bulls, who were led by Jimmy Butler's 26 points and nine rebounds, cut the deficit to six twice in the second quarter, they spent much of the first half trailing by double digits and went to the locker room down 57-45 despite shooting 50 percent from the floor -- although they were just 1 of 5 from beyond the 3-point arc.
After Chicago scored the first basket of the third quarter to give hints of a possible charge against a team that hasn't played with a lead much this season, Barnes and Matthews combined for 10 consecutive points to extend the lead to its biggest margin of the night, 67-49, barely three minutes into the period.
Dallas' lead grew to 21 before Chicago put together one final gasp early in the fourth quarter with reserve Denzel Valentine banking in a long jumper and then drilling a 3-pointer to make it 84-72 with 9:39 to go.
The Mavs quickly extinguished the threat with Devin Harris' steal and Deron Williams' layup capping a 7-2 burst to build the lead back to 91-74.
Dallas got key complementary scoring from starter Dorian Finney-Smith with 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting and reserve Dwight Powell, who had 17 points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes. Starting center Andrew Bogut had eight points, 11 rebounds and two steals in 22 minutes.
The Bulls had four players score in double figures. Robin Lopez finished with 15 points, Taj Gibson had 11, and Isaiah Canaan added 10 points. Point guard Rajon Rondo, who didn't fare well during his brief stint with Dallas a couple seasons ago, finished with two points and two assists in 24 minutes.
NOTES: Dallas F Dirk Nowitzki remains out indefinitely because of a strained right Achilles. Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said progress was made but "he's just not there yet." ... Mavericks G Seth Curry (right knee sprain) missed his second consecutive game. ... Carlisle said he a long talk with owner Mark Cuban about salvaging the season, saying, "We're going to slug this thing out." ... Bulls F Nikola Mirotic made his second start of the season in place of Dwyane Wade, and he played 13 scoreless minutes. ... Chicago F Doug McDermott (concussion protocol) was cleared for contact and will practice Monday and Tuesday with the D-League Windy City Bulls if there are no setbacks. ... C Robin Lopez entered Saturday's game with 10 consecutive games of at least 10 points, the longest such streak of his career.