DALLAS _ Rick Carlisle always valued Fred Hoiberg's competitiveness when Hoiberg was a player and Carlisle the offensive coordinator for Larry Bird's Pacers.
Now, Carlisle feels the same about Hoiberg's coaching.
"Fred's doing a great job developing this group," Carlisle said.
Indeed, the Bulls continue to draw praise from all corners of the league as they move through their first season of a full rebuild. What they haven't earned much of lately are victories.
But thanks to Kris Dunn's career-high 32 points with nine assists and four steals, Justin Holiday's 23 points that included two huge free throws with 2.1 seconds left and Lauri Markkanen's 16 points and nine rebounds, the Bulls snapped their three-game skid with a 127-124 victory over the Mavericks.
The Bulls sank their first eight shots, including four 3-pointers, but had to battle back in the fourth quarter after losing all of their 13-point lead. David Nwaba scored seven of his 13 points in the final period and Markkanen had a nasty put-back dunk of a Nwaba miss with 2 minutes, 47 seconds left as the Bulls used a 16-4 run late.
But several boneheaded plays down the stretch, including a lane violation by Nikola Mirotic, allowed the Mavericks to have an attempt to tie at the buzzer. Yogi Ferrell's decent look at a 3-pointer fell short.
"Their young players are getting better," Carlisle said. "The two stretch fours (Markkanen and Mirotic) are a big problem. I've always viewed (Robin) Lopez as an underrated guy and their point guards are aggressive and they come at you. Holiday's shooting the ball great. They've got a lot of good things going."
The Mavericks entered having won four of five, which included a last-second loss to the Warriors. Hoiberg was equally complimentary of their rookie point guard, Dennis Smith Jr.
"Seeing a couple of those plays that he made against Golden State at the rim, you can't teach that stuff," Hoiberg said. "He's great in the open court. He's shooting at a high clip. He's a good setup guy. He's what the league is now; he's got good size. He has good explosiveness, great length. He has the ability I think to be an excellent defender. So I think he's the whole package."
It was quite the matchup of young, dynamic point guards. Dunn continued his recent trend of battling through foul trouble and his season-long trend of strong bounceback games after he scored a season-low-tying two points Wednesday.
"Last year it was hard to tell that much because he was playing off the bench, the minutes were limited and then he was off the ball at times," Carlisle said of Dunn. "But I like what Fred is doing, basically giving him the ball and saying, 'Hey look, it's your team to run.' Down the stretch, he's involved in virtually every playmaking opportunity and he's delivered on many occasions. There's nothing like experience to help the growth of young players and he's getting better and better."
Speaking of young players, Markkanen and Smith shared a hug and smile shortly before tipoff. It's quite the rookie class this season.
"I think it really bodes well for the future of our league," Hoiberg said. "But I'd put Lauri up with any of them. We wouldn't trade him for anybody. He continues to get better and better. He has great instincts. He has athleticism. And the best thing about him is he has no fear. He has shown that time and time again, the ability to step up and take big shots whether he's shooting the ball well or not. We love him."
