A Load of Bulls: Luka Doncic, Mavs Outmanned in Chicago, 117-107
If you are a Dallas Mavericks fan who wanted your favorite team to gobble up talent while seeking change, you are likely envious of what Wednesday night's foe, the Chicago Bulls, have recently accomplished.
Dallas launched a road-heavy stint at the United Center to face a Bulls team starring Zach LaVine (who you as a Mavs fan have also coveted) along with Nikola Vucevic, DeMar DeRozan and Lonzo Ball.
What would the Dallas lineup look with those injections of talent - all acting in support of Luka Doncic?
It would look like the Bulls looked, here, as they registered a 117-107 victory over a Luka-led team that came into the game with the same 7-3 record as Chicago ... but leaves having been outmanned.
Luka had his moments, of course ...
But the Mavericks' heavy reliance on MVP candidate Doncic figures to sometimes get exposed against teams with more top-of-the-charts talent - especially when Luka struggles with his shot, as was the case here (6 of 18, and 1 of 6 from the arc on the way to his inefficient 20 points).
Coach Jason Kidd graded Doncic as just "average'' in this game, adding, "but average is pretty good. ... We always expect him to be super-human."
In truth, though, the boxscore-filling 10 assists and eight rebounds weren't enough to raise this performance to "average'' - not for this particular MVP human.
And even when Kristaps Porzingis (22 points and 12 rebounds) is able to match some of their success ...
Luka can outduel DeRozan. Maybe he can outduel DeRozan and Ball combined. Maybe he can outduel DeRozan and Ball and Vucevic combined.
But that leaves some Mav - any Mav - to match LaVine.
And even if that happens (as it can be argued it did with KP), the Bulls waves of talent overwhelm you.
The Bulls moved to 8-3 thanks to the balanced work of what can fairly be called a wealth of second-level standouts. To wit:
LaVine scored 23. Ball scored 21, with six assists and six rebounds. Vucevic had 18 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Rozan had 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Alex Caruso had 16 points ... and six steals.
Must we go on?
They don't, on most nights, have a Doncic-level guy. But they employ four guys who might, were they in Dallas uniforms, be the Mavs' second-best performer. And they certainly have shot-creators, whereas Dallas, in terms of a consistent basis, has ... one of those.
And it helps the Bulls when they shoot 15 of 31 from the arc. And when Dallas falls behind early. (Again). And when a Mavs' seven-point lead in the second quarter is somehow momentum-flipped into a seven-point halftime hole.
And which Mav is supposed to counteract that? Porzingis, playing a third straight game back from sitting due to back soreness, is paid to be that player. Maybe this game is a sign that it's coming.
In the meantime, in Dallas, when things are going well - and even with this result, the Mavs remain a top-tier team in the West standings, so 7-4 means things under new coach Kidd are going well enough - we treat Tim Hardaway (21) and Jalen Brunson (12 off the bench) as if they are legit NBA second bananas.
And in doing so - in asking Brunson, for instance, to "be'' DeRozan - we are asking too much.
Doncic, 22, came into the night averaging 24.9 points, 8.0 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game while shooting just 44.2 percent from the field and a career-low 29.5 percent from beyond the arc. And Wednesday's numbers won't help those totals. So yes, he needs to help himself ... but on a night like this, an MFFL can't help but experience a bit of jealousy when it comes to admiring the opponent.
Dallas' now-dead three-game winning streak (as the Mavericks begin a run featuring six of seven on the road) demonstrates that they need more.
We need more. And the Chicago Bulls, it seems, have more.
