Monday was quite the welcome-home party for the Bulls after a 3-1 West Coast trip.
It started with a 44-point ‘‘present’’ in the first quarter, courtesy of the Mavericks. By midway through the third quarter, Mavs star Luka Doncic already had a triple-double.
The icing on the cake, however, was the final buzzer in the Bulls’ 127-92 loss, marking the real cause for celebration: The game was over.
‘‘It was obvious,’’ Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan said. ‘‘They came out, jumped on us and played aggressive defensively. Offensively, they got to their stuff. We have to give them credit. It’s no excuse on our end, no matter how tough of a road trip we just came off. We have to be ready to play.’’
In the opening minutes of the third quarter, Doncic was pushing the ball in transition when a whistle was blown for a personal foul on Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu on the opposite side of the floor. Doncic flippantly chucked the ball toward the basket — and it went in.
The shot didn’t count because play was dead, but that moment was a reflection of the night as a whole. Anything the Mavs wanted, they got. Meanwhile the Bulls were cold.
The first quarter set the tone, with the Mavs shooting 64.3% from the field and 54.5% from three-point range. The Bulls, meanwhile, shot 30% from the field and 11% from three.
By the end of the first quarter, Doncic was already on triple-double watch.
‘‘[Doncic] is one of the superstars in this league for a reason,’’ DeRozan said. ‘‘Since he came in the league, his IQ, the way he reads the game, breaks down defenses, it’s hard to stop.’’
Doncic finished with 27 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds. Two other Mavs players scored at least 20 points, including former Bulls big man Daniel Gafford, who finished with 20 points on perfect 9-for-9 shooting from the field to go with seven rebounds.
It was the fourth consecutive game in which Gafford shot perfectly from the field. He is 28-for-28 during that span, the most consecutive field goals by a player since the 1996-97 season.
Gafford was selected by the Bulls with the 38th pick of the 2019 draft and eventually was traded to the Wizards in 2021. That trade, Gafford said, had a significant impact on his work ethic. In February, he was traded to the Mavs.
‘‘Taking that next step once I got traded [to the Wizards] was something that I wanted to get better at, for sure,’’ Gafford said. ‘‘It helped me build my character and my mentality, coming out every night and always being ready.’’
With no hope of a comeback in the fourth quarter, Bulls coach Billy Donovan deployed his bench. Onuralp Bitim brought some life to the United Center by scoring 10 points in the fourth, including a dunk, but it meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Bitim finished with a team-high 17 points. DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic added 13 points apiece and Coby White 12 on 4-for-14 shooting. In his third game back since missing seven games after the All-Star break with a sprained right knee, Torrey Craig went scoreless in five minutes.
With more than six minutes to play, Bulls fans started heading for the exits.
‘‘Every team is due for a butt-kicking of some sort throughout the season,’’ DeRozan said. ‘‘We have to let this be our last and only one for the rest of the season. It’s all about how you respond from here on out.’’
