Bulls look to halt skid at improving Mavs

The recent four-game winning streak cobbled together by the Dallas Mavericks was reason for hope. The same can be said for the loss that ended the run.

The Mavericks mustered one of their finer efforts this season in defeat, fighting to the end and nearly pulling off the improbable before falling to the Golden State Warriors.

"We made a great comeback," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "When you're 10 or 12 down with three minutes to go, you've got to pitch a shutout pretty much. We did some great things defensively. We got some steals and hit some threes."

The Mavs managed to forge a tie in the final seconds but were done in by Steph Curry's 3-pointer in the 125-122 loss Wednesday night at home. Dallas (13-26) looks to start a new streak Friday night against the visiting Chicago Bulls (13-25) at American Airlines Center.

The Bulls have dropped three in a row since a three-game winning streak. Dallas is the start of a road back-to-back the ends Saturday at Indiana.

In the 124-115 loss to Toronto on Wednesday, Justin Holiday scored a team-high 26. Lauri Markkanen had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and Nikola Mirotic scored 20 for the Bulls.

Chicago has scored at least 110 points in each game during the current skid, so offense hasn't been the problem that it was earlier this season.

"Obviously, even though we lost these games, we are not playing like we were then," Holiday said. "We're not as bad as we were. That's on both ends. Even though we lost these games, we are in the games, teams are respecting us when they play us and we're fighting back. But sometimes we have lulls."

Help could be on its way soon, with Zach LaVine traveling with the team on its current road trip.

As for the Mavs, Carlisle had plenty of reason for optimism after taking the defending champs to the brink. Seven players scored in double digits for the second time in their last three games (fifth time this season). Dallas had at least seven players score 10-plus points just three times all of last season.

The Mavs shot 44.2 percent (19 of 43) from 3-point distance, including seven from Wesley Matthews. Dwight Powell matched a career high with 21 points.

"I'm really pleased with the way we played, how hard we played and how we kept coming and coming," Carlisle said. "There were some things that were very frustrating, some missed free throws and missed rebounds that were seemingly in our grasp. That's why the possession game is so important."

Point guard Dennis Smith Jr. didn't back down in his matchup against Curry. The point guard 14 points and eight assists, along with several highlight-reel dunks.

"Any game I go out there, I will give it my all," Smith said. "I think I played very well regardless of the outcome. You know, you want to win every game but I think everybody on our team came out and gave it everything they had so you can't ask for more than that."