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Butler, Bulls hold off Mavericks

Jan 24, 2015 - 6:31 AM Dallas, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Derrick Rose's Monday night call-out has reaped immediate benefits.

Jimmy Butler had 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists, Pau Gasol added 13 points and 16 boards and the Chicago Bulls held off the Dallas Mavericks 102-98 on Friday night.

After being handed a sixth loss in eight games following a 108-94 blowout loss to the Cavaliers in Cleveland, Rose preached for better effort from his teammates during a postgame press conference.

The Bulls listened to their star.

Chicago routed the reigning-champion San Antonio Spurs 104-81 on Thursday night prior to the triumph in Dallas.

"You played two games, you got to keep putting the intensity in it ... I like the direction we're moving in," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said.

Rose netted 18 of his 20 points in the first half for Chicago, which outrebounded Dallas 47-30.

"Just physical disposition. We needed to be tougher. We need to be more hit- first," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said of the rebounding disparity.

Dirk Nowitzki supplied 24 points, Monta Ellis provided 17 points and five steals and Tyson Chandler posted 10 points and 12 boards for the Mavericks, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

Chandler capped a 10-4 Dallas run with a pair of free throws to whittle its deficit to 99-95 with 56.3 seconds remaining before Taj Gibson split a pair of foul shots at the other end.

Ellis was fouled on a right elbow jumper with 28.6 ticks on the clock and sunk the subsequent foul shots to cut the gap to 100-98.

Carlisle elected not to foul and Rose tracked down his own miss following a missed layup. Gasol was fouled with 0.1 seconds left and sunk both bonus shots to seal the outcome.

Earlier, Tony Snell and Rose hit early triples as the Bulls raced out to a 12-4 start before taking a 30-21 advantage into the second.

Ellis finished off a 7-0 Dallas spurt with a jumper to help it pull within 52-51 late in the second. Rose sunk a pair of foul shots in the waning stages of the half to help Chicago head into the locker room with a 54-51 edge.

Nowitzki's triple in the final second of the third got the Mavericks within 80-75.

After Ellis' jumper trimmed the Dallas deficit to 88-85 with 7:28 left, the Bulls ripped off the next seven points.

Rose drove in for a reverse layup, Gasol found Gibson for a layup, Butler split a pair from the foul line and Aaron Brooks hit two from the charity stripe to cap the flurry for a 95-85 Chicago cushion with 4:30 to play.

Game Notes

The Bulls improved to 7-6 on the second night of back-to-backs this season ... Dallas scored 32 points off 24 Chicago turnovers ... Gasol has recorded double-doubles in 10 of his last 12 games ... The Bulls were 9-of-16 from beyond the arc.