As the Chicago Bulls continue to push forward toward their inevitable place in the Play-In Tournament, they need every win they can get. It’s unlikely they get up to the eighth seed and equally as unlikely they fall out of the Play-In altogether. However, they are in a battle with the Atlanta Hawks for homecourt advantage in the first Play-In game.
On Monday night, the Bulls suffered a brutal blowout loss to the Dallas Mavericks. They fell by a score of 127-92, as Luka Doncic and company completely picked them apart. More specifically, it was Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II who caused the Bulls’ demise.
After the game, head coach Billy Donovan spoke about how the Mavericks’ success in the paint was what hurt Chicago the most.
“We gave up a lot of rolls to the basket and offensive rebounds,” Donovan said via ESPN. “We’ve got to be more pulled in than we were. … We kind of were too worried with getting back out to that 3-point line instead of saying, hey, we’re gonna take away the roll.”
Gafford finished the night with 22 points while Lively had 20.
