Billy Donovan sounded the alarm a few times since he returned from health and safety protocols.
Even though the Bulls have been playing well, some of their defensive habits have been slipping. It all came around to bite them Sunday, as the Dallas Mavericks ended the Bulls' nine-game winning streak with a 113-99 victory.
The Bulls (26-11) played a good first half and led by as many as 11 points, but the shots stopped falling after intermission. Dallas star Luka Doncic, meanwhile, recorded a triple-double with 22 points, 14 rebounds and 14 assists.
After this loss, Donovan pointed out another win-streak truth: The Bulls have skirted past several teams that were missing multiple players in protocols. Now that teams are getting healthier, the challenge is different.
"It's a game, we can really learn and get better from and grow from," Donovan said. "Really looking at this film and seeing areas that we were maybe able to get away with some things that we couldn't get away with tonight.
"Not that they were intentionally trying to get away, but not having the awareness that things are going to be more challenging and they were more challenging tonight."
Dallas (22-18) won its sixth game in a row, so both teams were on a good roll. The Bulls' last 10-game win streak was when they won the last nine games of the 2010-11 season, then added the opening game of 2011-12.
Trailing by 8 midway through the fourth quarter, the Bulls tried to make their move, like they did in those comeback victories at Indiana and Washington last week. Instead, Dallas did all the damage, draining 3-pointers on three straight possessions to open up a 102-88 advantage with 6:24 remaining and that was the end of it.
"When you play a game like this, you have a different feeling walking out of it like, 'OK, I've got to be a lot better here,'" Donovan said. "A lot of time competition creates a measuring stick of where you've got to get better."
DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine scored 20 points each. The Bulls slipped a bit from the 3-point line, hitting 11 of 33 attempts. Dallas, meanwhile, hit 16 of 36 shots from behind the arc.
Mavs big man Maxi Kleber went 6-for-9 from 3-point range and he hadn't hit more than 4 in a game all season. Dorian Finney-Smith tied his season-high by hitting 4 of 7.
Like most teams this season, the Mavericks constantly involved Bulls center Nikola Vucevic in pick-and-rolls. Doncic was really good at pushing his way into the interior of the Bulls' defense and either hit a hot, kick it out for a 3 or lob it up to a big man.
"When we did a good job at the point of the screen and were really physical, I thought it enabled our big to get out of coverage a little bit quicker," Donovan said.
Vucevic finished with 13 points and 6 rebounds, ending a personal streak of seven straight games of at least 12 rebounds.
"I think we've shown we're a resilient team," Vucevic said. "It wasn't always easy throughout the nine games that we won and we don't always have everybody. There were games we didn't play as well, we were down and we able to find our way.
"We stick together. The self-belief we have in ourselves is very big. We believe that we can come into any game and win it if we play the right way. I'd say that's the main thing. "
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports
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