Field Level Media
Mar 2, 2020
Otto Porter Jr. scored 18 points in his first action since November, and the Chicago Bulls held on for a 109-107 win over the visiting Dallas Mavericks on Monday night.
Porter shot 7 of 11 in his return from a broken foot that caused him to miss 51 games. He played 17 minutes. Coby White scored 19 points to lead Chicago, and Denzel Valentine finished with 17.
Tim Hardaway Jr. led Dallas with 26 points on 10-for-21 shooting. Luka Doncic finished with 23 points, five rebounds and nine assists after sitting out the Mavericks' previous contest because of a sprained left thumb.
Dallas pulled within 108-107 when Dorian Finney-Smith made a 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds left. Finney-Smith had just connected from beyond the arc with 15.3 seconds remaining.
Chicago's Wendell Carter Jr. made one of two free throws on the next possession, and Doncic missed a desperation heave at the buzzer.
The Bulls led by nine points with four minutes to go before the frenetic finish.
Chicago led 81-75 entering the fourth quarter. The Bulls seized momentum with a dominant third quarter in which they notched a 33-17 advantage over the Mavericks.
The score was even at 70 when White buried a 3-pointer with 3:59 left in the frame. The trey started a 9-2 run that helped Chicago pull ahead of Dallas, which was playing its second game in as many days.
The Bulls opened the second half on a 9-0 run to slice their deficit to one. Thaddeus Young scored the first five points, Shaquille Harrison followed with a pair of free throws, and Carter had a dunk off an assist from Tomas Satoransky.
Dallas held a 58-48 lead at the half.
Chicago quickly fell behind as the Mavericks scored the game's first seven points in 73 seconds. Hardaway and Finney-Smith each made baskets before Doncic drained a 3-pointer from 27 feet on his first attempt.
The Mavericks established a 29-19 lead by the end of the first quarter. Doncic converted a three-point play in the final minute while Porter had four points for the Bulls during the same time frame.
The Bulls played without top scorer Zach LaVine, who sat out because of a strained left quadriceps.
--Field Level Media