CLEVELAND - An average defensive team at best last season, the Bulls are now able to produce clutch defensive stops.

Some things are out of their control, though.

With the Bulls clinging to a 1-point lead and 4.3 seconds on the clock, Cleveland's LeBron James drove to his left, got a step on Luol Deng and ran into Joakim Noah at the side of the lane.

Noah stood his ground, James made contact and lost the ball out of bounds. It looked like solid defense, but superstars often get the benefit of the doubt in the NBA.

"It's my sixth year, man, you don't get nervous," Deng said of waiting for the call. "We're going to play them three more times. You just do your best."

The referees saw it the same way as the Bulls.

While the sellout crowd at Quicken Loans Arena howled at the replay, the Bulls walked off the court with an impressive 86-85 victory over one of the favorites to win the Eastern Conference.

In the Cavaliers' locker room, James (25 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists) lobbied for a pair of free throws. But witnesses said the Cavs seemed to accept their fate after watching the replay several times.

"I didn't feel like it was even close to being a foul," Noah said. "I wasn't worried because there was no contact at all."

Well, there was some contact.

James' elbow struck Noah in the chest, which caused James to lose the ball out of bounds with 0.2 seconds on the clock.

"That's his problem," Noah replied with a smile. "Like you said, I was standing straight up."

This performance was more what the Bulls had in mind when the season began - balanced offense and improved defense, with a few fast breaks sprinkled in.

Derrick Rose continued to look more like his rookie-year self, finishing with 14 points and 11 assists.

He scored the Bulls' final basket, a runner in the lane over Anderson Varejao, that put the Bulls up 86-82 with 1:44 remaining.

James' 3-pointer on the next trip brought Cleveland within 1, but the Bulls finished the game with three important defensive stops.

Guard Mo Williams missed twice before James' final attempt.

"We've been saying, sometimes you don't need shots, you need stops," center Brad Miller said. "Obviously, we got some big ones."

A week ago, the Bulls went to Boston and lost by 28 points. This victory gave them a 3-2 record and the Central Division lead. That's quite a difference, but Rose showed no interest in celebrating the win.

"We didn't do nothing," Rose said. "It didn't make us feel good, we didn't do nothing. We're far from it. This is our fifth game. We've got to continue to stay consistent and play defense."

The Bulls began to take control early in the fourth quarter when a Deng jumper and Rose lay-in gave the Bulls a 72-68 lead.

After missing several opportunities, the Bulls finally stretched the lead to 6 with 2:36 left on a lumbering drive to the basket by Miller.

The Bulls had three chances to put the game away in the final 1:30, but John Salmons (14 points) was blocked by James on a drive to the basket, Salmons missed a 3-pointer, then Deng (15 points) missed a running bank with 4.3 seconds on the clock.

Miller grabbed Deng's miss, but the officials ruled the shot never hit the rim. Television replays showed it was a very close call, though difficult to judge conclusively.