Bulls let one slip away against Cavs |
CLEVELAND - When you look at teams that the Chicago Bulls (26-29) don't match up well against, the Cleveland Cavaliers (36-17) come to mind, as they have owned this team for the better part of two seasons. Having a player in Donovan Mitchell certainly helps, but the Cavaliers have one of the tallest/biggest lineups in the game, whereas the Bulls counter with one of the smallest.
Throw in the fact that they are the second-best defensive team in the league behind Minnesota, and it shouldn't surprise anyone to see this team leading the Central Division as they continue to push toward the top spot in the Eastern. Facing off for their final game before the all-star break at Quicken Loans Arena, Chicago was looking for their first win in three tries against the Cavs this season to give them a massive confidence boost heading into the break. For the most part, the Bulls delivered as they controlled the game from practically start until finish and led for 44 minutes. The problem is, an NBA game is 48 minutes, and the Cavaliers needed a bucket down the stretch they delivered as they managed to erase an early lead by the Bulls to pick up the 108-105 victory. Not only can you beat this team with size, but you can also beat them when you force them to shoot three-pointers, as they are not a great shooting team from outside. You wouldn't have guessed that from this game as the Bulls made 14 triples to the Cavs 12 and shot better than 42% from deep. You could argue that they should've shot more shots from distance, but they like to play that 1990s style basketball for whatever reason. Coby White bounced back from a relatively quiet last two games to come away with a game-high 32 points. 15 came on five triples as he also dished out seven assists. Joining him was Demar DeRozan, who continues to show his age isn't an issue on the offensive end. Despite being graded out as one of the worst defenders in the league, DeRozan is a top-20 scorer and has meant a lot to the Bulls over the past three seasons. With 24 points and six assists, he continued to deliver and has now started talking about remaining a Bull after this season. While those were the only two players to have at least 20 points for the Bulls, three others landed in double figures, including Andre Drummond, who was back in the starting lineup. Expected to the lineup when the Bulls face bigger teams, Drummond was alive and kicking again, picking up 10 points and hauling in 15 boards. Throw in the 12 points from Ayo Dosunmu and 10 more from Alex Caruso off the bench, and the Bulls had the balanced scoring you look for in a win. The problem was, balanced or not, the Bulls didn't have enough scoring, which is a shame to see when you see how hard they played. Mitchell and his 30 points led the way, although half of those came from the free-throw line. Mitchell did manage to pull down six boards and dish out seven assists, as he was doing far more than just scoring the ball. Like Chicago, he was the only one to top 30 points, but he was also the only Cavalier with more than 20 points in a relatively quiet day offensively. Isaac Okoro did provide a spark with four triples and 16 points off the bench, but when Evan Mobley and his 14 points are your second-highest scorer among starters, you can see the struggles. Jarrett Allen banged with Nikola Vucevic all night to finish with 13 points and 10 boards, while Darius Garland and his 12 points rounded out the starters. You also saw Georges Niang add 11 more points off the bench to cap off the scoring in the Cavs hard-fought 108-105 win. Sitting at 26-29, the Bulls are still in the playoff mix as they currently hold the No. 9 seed as we enter the break.
GAME RECAP: MAINE TOPS WINDY CITY
It was another day and another loss for the Windy City Bulls (6-12) as their season-long struggles continued. This time, it came at the hands of the Maine Celtics (11-9) as they rallied from a double-digit deficit after one-quarter of play to pull away in the fourth 111-102. With Julian Phillips and Onurlap Bitim getting called up to the NBA, Windy City was missing some of their scoring.
Despite that, they still had Adama Sanogo, who continued to go about his business with 23 points and eight rebounds. Joining him was the suddenly scorching-hot Henri Drell, who came off his best game of the season to add 21 points and eight boards. Those were the only starters in double figures, but the man of the hour was Evan Gilyiard and his season-high 22 points off the bench. Maine was led by Davison and his 23 points, with Peterson and DJ Stewart adding 19 and 16, respectively.
