Rare fast start lifts Bulls to road win at Cleveland
The Bulls found themselves in a very unusual situation in Cleveland on Saturday night.
After shooting 52% from the field, the Bulls led the Cavaliers 53-38 at halftime. It was their largest halftime advantage since Dec. 29, when they led Atlanta's heavily-altered pandemic squad by 21. This was also just the second time in the last 11 games the Bulls held any sort of lead at intermission.
The next step was keeping the lead. It teetered late in the fourth quarter, but the Bulls hung on for a 98-94 victory. The win reversed a bad run away from home, with the Bulls losing eight of their previous nine road games.
"You're up 18 at the half, you just don't think it's going to be easy," coach Billy Donovan said. "They're going to make a run, they're a good team. I think when they did make a run, we kind of steadied ourselves and found a way to make some plays. This is another learning experience for this group."
It was an important win in terms of playoff position. The Bulls stayed in fifth place, with a one-game lead over Toronto and two over Cleveland. Had they lost Saturday, the Bulls would have fallen into a three-way tie. The loser of the three-way battle could land in seventh place and be relegated to the play-in tournament.
By winning on Saturday, the Bulls clinched the season series over the Cavs and already finished off a series win over Toronto. So the Bulls would win any tiebreaker with those two teams.
"We've been talking about it for so long," Alex Caruso said of the Bulls' monthlong slide. "The players have been trying to get each other to get up to the standard we're supposed to play at. Me personally, I tried to just lock in and treat it like playoff prep fro me.
'I think it showed from the opening tip. I thought we were the better team for the majority of the game. Nobody wants to be in the play-in game. Not to sound like a broken record, but it's about showing up and doing your job."
One problem with the early lead was the Bulls never expanded it after halftime. It just kept on getting smaller until the Cavaliers pulled within 83-80 with 5:35 left. Cleveland used a familiar tactic to get back into the game, putting Nikola Vucevic in pick-and-rolls.
The Bulls countered by going at former teammate Lauri Markkanen. First DeMar DeRozan drove past Markkanen for a reverse dunk, then Vucevic drew a foul in the post and hit both free throws.
The Vucevic free throws put the Bulls up by 5. From there, the Bulls got five straight defensive stops - it helped when they trapped the pick-and-roll - and scored 8 straight points to put the game out of reach.
Zach LaVine led the Bulls with 25 points, while DeRozan added 20 and Vucevic scored 16.
"When you play that way, moving the ball, sharing the ball, it's contagious," Vucevic said. "I think it affects the whole game, not just our offense. I think it also helps with our defensive approach. It just makes life easier for everybody.
"I think early on we have to get everybody involved, it can't just be me, Zach and DeMar, it has to be everybody. We have to have other guys shoot the ball, touch the ball, feel like they're involved."
With DeRozan back after missing a game with an adductor strain, Donovan made another switch to the starting lineup. He kept Dosunmu as a starter with Caruso and moved Javonte Green to the bench.
Donovan said he made the switch because the Cavs decided not to start Kevin Love, even with center Jarrett Allen out with a broken finger. Dosunmu did a nice job against Cavs guard Darius Garland when these teams met at the United Center two weeks ago.
"It just makes it so much harder for other teams to defend us when the ball moves side to side, when we go from action to action, especially when we get downhill and kick it out, it's hard for defenses to guard us," Vucevic said.
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