Coming off an exhilarating loss against the Golden State Warriors, the Mavs looked to get back on track against a Chicago Bulls team that had been playing much better basketball compared to the start of the season.
The Mavericks might as well have been playing the Warriors again in the first quarter as the Bulls raced out of the gates to an eight-for-eight shooting start. For the Mavericks, Harrison Barnes almost singlehandedly kept the team within striking distance scoring 10 points in the quarter. After one quarter the Bulls led 34-28.