East is wide-open, but Bulls miss chance to take down undefeated Cavs
One thing about the NBA's Eastern Conference, there is room at the top.
Heading into Monday's action, just two of 15 teams sported a winning record. One of those was the Cleveland Cavaliers, who rolled into the United Center undefeated.
The Bulls gave it a good shot and the score was tied with five minutes left, but the Cavaliers were better down the stretch and improved to 12-0 with a 119-113 victory on Monday.
The most alarming statistic was Cleveland scoring 35 points off 21 Bulls turnovers. Whether those came from trying to play too fast or just running into an elite defense is in the eye of the beholder.
“We were kind of playing uphill with the number of turnovers we had,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “A lot of it to me was just like some carelessness, driving into areas there's no reason to drive into. I thought we were pretty good in transition. It was really more in the half-court that we turned it over.”
Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell had it rolling early and finished with 36 points, nothing unusual since he scored 71 against the Bulls two seasons ago.
Zach LaVine led the Bulls with 26 points, while Coby White and Nikola Vucevic had 20 each. According to Bulls PR, the Bulls became the first NBA team in five years to have all five starters reach double figures in a half.
“I thought we had a good game overall,” LaVine said. “I thought we had a couple moments where we beat ourselves. They're a good team, you can't have that many mistakes against them, they're going to take advantage.
There seems to be plenty of support around Bulls Nation for this team to sink into a top-10 draft pick, so they don't have to send their 2025 first-rounder to San Antonio.
Here's another path to consider: Try to make the playoffs this season, deliver the pick to South Texas and at least the Bulls don't owe anyone anymore first-rounders. The best way for the Bulls to become title contenders isn't tanking for a high draft pick. That could work, but requires large amounts of luck.
One way for the Bulls to control their own destiny is develop the young players they already have and hope to make a trade like the Cavaliers did for Mitchell. Cleveland sent Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, three first-round picks and two pick swaps to Utah for Mitchell in September, 2022.
That's a steep price, even if the pick swaps turn out to be useless, which is why any team making such a trade has to get it right. The Cavs have won one playoffs series in two seasons with Mitchell, but maybe this is their year. The organization replaced head coach J.B. Bickerstaff with Kenny Atkinson this season and 12-0 is no fluke. The Cavs beat Golden State by 19 last Friday.
Playoffs didn't seem to be a high priority for the Bulls (4-7) this season. But as long as the East is wide-open, they might as well take advantage. Next up, though, is a tough-two-game trip to New York and Cleveland.
The Cavs led by as many as 8 in the fourth quarter, then LaVine decided to try and match Mitchell's heroics. LaVine hit a step-back 3, driving layin and turnaround jumper to tie the score at 106-106 with 5:06 remaining.
A clutch 3-pointer by Caris Levert put the Cavs up by 7 with 3:23 left. The last gasp for the Bulls was probably an open 3-point miss from Patrick Williams that could have brought them within 1 with 47 seconds on the clock.
The Bulls briefly took command in the third quarter, building an 85-76 lead. But a sub-heavy Cavs lineup turned the game around, finishing the quarter on a 19-7 run, all bench points. Then the Bulls came out for the fourth quarter and left Mitchell wide-open for a corner 3 on the first possession.
Bulls backup center Jalen Smith missed the game due to an illness.