NEWSLETTER
The Bears and Bulls play today … and I’m pretty sure that’s a health hazard.
• I’m giving the Chicago Bulls a mulligan. Their Friday night matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks was pretty much a lose-lose situation. While I want to see a more all-around competitive effort against some of the top teams in the league, the Bulls simply are not as talented. However, the main reason they get a full-blown pass is because they (1) played and won a close 133-130 game 24 hours before in Washington, and (2) they were hit with four players on the injury report due to NBA protocols. Tonight, instead, offers a much more reasonable opportunity to prove that this team has learned from their back-to-back victories against the Wizards. The Dallas Mavericks are a playoff-caliber squad, but one that feels like a more appropriate and honest test for the Bulls at this point in the season.
Back home tonight. Dallas. 7 pm CT.@LiquiMolyUSA | #BullsNation pic.twitter.com/IgFGtDR29T
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 3, 2021
• I don’t expect the Bulls to win. In fact, if we’re being honest, I’m not sure the next time I will go into a game with that expectation. What I do expect, though, is to see a better performance than what we saw on Friday. Slowly but surely this team has demonstrated their commitment to the system as well as their ability to learn from past mistakes. Both will be key tonight to keep up offensively with the high-powered Mavericks’ offense. Not only will the team have to channel the solid team defense they showed in stints against the Wizards, but they’ll have to limit turnovers if they want a real chance to grab their third win of the season.
• The Bulls are still averaging the second-most turnovers in the league at 18.8 per game, whereas the Mavericks check-in as the 3rd most careful team at only 12.0 per game. I wouldn’t label Dallas’ defense as anything elite, but they have been pesky to start this season, poking away the 6th-most steals per game in the league (9.6) and sitting right outside the top-10 in deflections per game (16.8). Also, thanks again to their strong offense, they are one of the best teams thus far at scoring off other teams’ mistakes, which is demonstrated by their 6th-place standing in percent of points of turnovers (18.2). Long story short: The Mavericks will make the Bulls play for careless basketball.
• Now, if the Bulls do limit turnovers, they might have a legitimate chance to steal a W. The Mavericks have been pretty much the epitome of inconsistency to start this season. One night, they are breaking an NBA record with a 50-point lead over the Clippers at halftime, and the next they’re losing to the Charlotte Hornets 118-99. The team has certainly played its fair share of competition, but against fellow high-powered offenses, they’ve struggled at times. We know the Bulls have the scoring power to score in bunches. If the Mavs defense has another off-night (and the Bulls take care of the basketball) who’s to say the Bulls can’t come out on top?
• Oh, and it certainly doesn’t hurt the Bulls chances that Luka Doncic is currently listed as questionable on the Mavericks injury report. I think it’s still more likely than not that he plays, but it is worth noting that he is a bit banged up at the moment with a left quad contusion. Meanwhile, the Bulls will once again be without Lauri Markkanen, Tomas Satoransky, Chandler Hutchison, and Ryan Arcidiacono.
Bulls remain without Lauri Markkanen, Tomas Satoransky, Chandler Hutchison and Ryan Arcidiacono vs. Mavericks. Hutchison is self isolating after positive COVID-19 test. The other three are in quarantine as part of league’s health and safety protocols.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 3, 2021
• The absence of Satoransky is really bothering me. He did a great job at running the second unit to start this season, and he was a reassuring go-to when Coby White struggled to distribute the ball at an efficient rate. We saw how bad the Bulls playmaking can spiral out of control on Friday against the Bucks (LaVine, White, and Young all had six turnovers), and while I doubt Satoransky’s presence would have made that game significantly more competitive, he could have at least stabilized the offense. Hopefully, White can channel his 10-assist performance in Game 2 against the Wizards, and I don’t need to think about this tonight.
• I’m looking at Wendell to have a big game tonight. The Mavs are still without Kristaps Prozingis, and while Dwight Powell is a physical and talented big man, I still give Carter Jr. the advantage in this matchup. I’ll probably touch on that a bit more in Pre-Gamin’ later today.
• Forgot to share this the other night, but it’s awesome to see the kid from Chicago got his first big-league bucket.
Devon Dotson gets his first NBA bucket.@NBCSChicago | @d_dotson1 pic.twitter.com/BsmlJd0ZxF
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 2, 2021
