Mavs Beat Bulls

DALLAS — J.J. Barea was practically unstoppable from beyond the arc and backcourt partner Raymond Felton came up big on consecutive plays at both ends late in the game to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 118-111 win over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night at American Airlines Center.

With the score tied at 108-108 nearing one minute left in regulation, Felton drove late in the shot clock and got fouled hard by Chicago forward Taj Gibson. Felton made both free throws for the two-point lead.

On the Bulls’ ensuing possession, Felton deflected guard Derrick Rose’s pass and Dallas guard Wes Matthews converted at the other end for a 112-108 lead. Two more Felton free throws bumped the lead to six with 38.9 seconds to go.

Bulls forward Jimmy Butler hit a 3-pointer four seconds later to make it 114-111, and the Bulls then got the critical stop it needed and called timeout with 11.7 seconds to go to devise a potential game-tying play. However, Rose failed to throw it in and was whistled for a five-second violation, giving possession back to Dallas.

“I think I lost the game with that turnover when we were down two points,” Rose said. “It was such a critical part of the game and I feel bad. I feel like I lost this game for the team.”

Two more Felton free throws, giving him six of Dallas’ final 10 points, sealed the victory. But the Bulls will surely look back sorely at the play that never happened.

“Yeah, it looked like we got caught up,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said when

asked if he felt it was a quick five-second call. “It looked like they got caught up in the body on Pau (Gasol), which held him up getting to the open on the screen. We’ll have to go back and look at it on film.”

The Mavericks won consecutive games for the first time in five weeks. The Bulls lost for a fourth time in five games after winning at Oklahoma City on Christmas Day.

Barea, who started a second consecutive game for injured guard Deron Williams, poured in a game-high 26 points after he lit up the Brooklyn Nets for a career-high 32 points on Wednesday night. Barea made his first seven 3-point attempts (finishing 7 of 8) and was 9 of 14 from the floor with five assists and one turnover in 33 minutes.

“It’s been great,” Barea said of starting the last two games. “I’ve got to give love tonight to my teammates and coaches. They gave me the confidence and wanted me to be aggressive, especially early in games, and I was able to get in a rhythm early tonight and it was able to help us win tonight.”

Barea outdueled Rose, who continues to look more like his old self after finishing with 25 points, four assists and five rebounds.

“He’s on fire,” Mavs forward Chandler Parsons said. “I don’t know what he’s doing differently, but he needs to continue to do that, and we’re going to keep riding him during the stretch.”

The Mavs (17-13) ultimately won the game with 3-point shooting (16 of 33) and by crashing the offensive boards. Dallas outscored Chicago 30-19 in second-chance points. Add 3-point shooting and the Mavs held a 35-point advantage in those two categories.

“You’re talking about a very physical team that’s smart, that’s veteran, that’s well coached — they just make it hard for you with their legs and their strength,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said of the Bulls. “The fact they played (Friday) really helped us. In the fourth quarter, a couple of those shots that were going in earlier weren’t going in late. The great thing, we were down six rebounds at the half, and we ended up outrebounding them. Our effort on the boards was really, I thought, our difference in the game.”

The Bulls led 60-59 at halftime but had a chance to take a much bigger lead into the locker room after going up 54-43 with 2:38 to go. But two 3-pointers from Barea and another 3 from Matthews helped Dallas close the half on a 17-5 run.

The Mavs hit 10 of 16 from beyond the arc in the first half for a 15-point advantage to counter the Bulls’ 54.6 percent shooting from the floor. Dallas started the third quarter on an 11-3 run.

Parsons finished with 20 points, five assists and five rebounds. Forward Dirk Nowitzki scored 16 points, center ZaZa Pachulia had 17 points and 12 rebounds and Felton added 13 points.

All five Bulls starters scored in double figures. Nikola Mirotic had 23 points, Pau Gasol 18 and Jimmy Butler 17.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares