Bulls thrive in transition in blowout win over Mavs

Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu darted toward the rim, easily blowing past Mavericks guard Jaden Hardy and finished with a left-handed layup just before the third-quarter buzzer.

Dosunmu left his left arm in the air just in case people missed his layup before it played on the video board.

Offense came easily for the Bulls in their 125-107 game against a short-handed Mavs team. The key to their success was their rebounding. To play the high-octane style that they have been their best at, they have to force miscues from other teams.

Controlling the glass allowed the Bulls to run their offense against a non-set defense. That’s why they had 101 points at the 9:56 mark of the fourth quarter despite shooting below-average marks from the three-point line.

"We fouled a little bit too much tonight," coach Billy Donovan said. "I thought when we did get stops and clean rebounds, we did a really good job of spacing the floor."

The Bulls were attacking the rim strongly and finishing through contact. They were flexing and mean-mugging up and down the court.

Matas Buzelis got the best of Cooper Flagg on Saturday. Buzelis scored 15 points on 7-for-16 shooting while Flagg finished with just 11 points on 4-for-13 shooting, two assists and one rebound.

Twice in the fourth quarter, Flagg was just unable to catch the ball. He looked out of sorts all night long as he dealt with the Bulls’ physicality. In the first half, he was almost pleading with the refs for foul calls. He wore his frustration on his face with every miss and call he felt he deserved but didn’t get.

“I think I did decent," Buzelis said of his performance. "[Flagg] struggled a little bit tonight, but he's a great player. He's gonna bounce back.”

Dosunmu continued his stretch of remarkable play by scoring 20 points — extending his season-high double-digit scoring streak to eight games — and dishing out eight assists.

He was successful driving to the rim and finishing through contact. He benefited from a Bulls offensive attack that did a good job of not letting the ball stick in one player's hands. The ball was constantly moving as the team created endless scoring chances for each other. The Bulls finished with 38 fastbreak points and 31 assists.

Even though the Bulls shot just 32.6% from three, the Bulls did a good job of playing with pace and staying on the attack. The Mavs were without All-Star Anthony Davis, who is one of the best defenders in the league. The key for the Bulls was their aggressiveness and dominance on the glass. They outrebounded Dallas 52-42.

The Bulls are built to be a team that has multiple double-digit scorers every night. They don’t have that one star that they can rely on. Because of injuries and their own subpar play, the Bulls haven’t been able to build on any one performance after their hot start.

“We understand how we need to play in order to win,” White said. “Tonight [that] was just [playing] fast and half court, share the ball, move the ball, and then defensively, just try to be as disruptive as we can.

“We know how we got to play in order to win. Some nights this year, we haven't played to that, to our capability in that area and those aspects of the game. So I think we just got to continue to do it consistently and build out this game.”