This was the concern that Billy Donovan was carrying the last 48 hours leading into the game with the Mavericks.

National television interviews for Josh Giddey after he hit the half-court shot heard around Chicago, and the Bulls gaining relevance on a much bigger stage.

Too much too soon, as far as the coach was concerned. Life hiding in the weeds most of the 2024-25 campaign had been just fine for Donovan.

“I get concerned about that a little bit quite honestly,” Donovan said of the focus on his team since the drama of the Thursday win over the Lakers. “I do think that when you’re a team over the course of the season, which has been all year long really, on the outside looking in at a playoff seed being in the top six, and then going through what we did at the trade deadline, there hasn’t been a lot of attention. The attention has been on a lot of other teams.

“Because it was the Lakers and LeBron’s status in the game, what he’s done throughout his career, the trade with (Luka) Doncic coming in, there’s a huge following with them. So when a game happens against a team like that with those two players, certainly there’s going to be a lot more focus on that game. For our guys emotionally we’ve got to be able to come back 48 hours later and play again.”

They played, just not well.

Thanks to a pair of Klay Thompson free throws with 6.1 seconds left, the visiting Mavs outlasted the Bulls 120-119 on Saturday.

“Got to be able to handle the emotion, which is a part of the growth we have to make as a team because if at some point you do want to get to the playoffs, sometimes those playoff games can be really emotional from one game to the next and you’ve got to be able to flush those games and be able to refocus and raise your energy level, not have it zapped,” Donovan said. “It’s about how you come back off of it.”

Most of the night for the Bulls (33-41), not well.

But even looking a step slow, the game was within reach.

After Spencer Dinwiddie missed a finger roll badly with 10.1 seconds left, the Bulls had a chance to muster up some heroics down three out of the timeout. Dallas, however, chose to foul Nikola Vucevic and put him at the line rather than let the Bulls tie the game from long range, and unfortunately for the veteran center he missed the first and hit the second.

That left Donovan with no choice but to foul Thompson, who made both. So even Vucevic’s three with 0.2 seconds was basically a non-factor.

“I felt like we were all a step behind for some reason,” rookie Matas Buzelis said. “We battled back of course, we always do that, but if we start well and execute in the beginning (of games) I don’t think anybody can beat us.”

The Bulls actually had a solid first quarter, outscoring Dallas (37-38) 34-30 to take the early lead. Turnovers, however, were an issue the entire game, with Dallas scoring 27 points off 19 Bulls turnovers.

So even a game-high 28 from Buzelis, as well as Coby White and Vucevic each chipping in 25, could overcome a night in which the Mavericks picked key moments to go right at Giddey and test his improved defense.

A test Giddey failed with Donovan pulling him off the floor late when the team needed stops.

“I didn’t think we kind of had it (Saturday), the pop wasn’t there,” Donovan added. “It was just a game that was a struggle for us.”