The Chicago Bulls were looking to make sure the Cleveland Cavaliers went into the All-Star break on a sour note and they succeeded, defeating the Cavaliers, 113-98, Thursday night at United Center.
Derrick Rose was the catalyst as he sliced and diced his way to 30 points and seven assists. Cavaliers head coach David Blatt used multiple defenders on the former MVP, but he managed to find his way to the hole throughout.
LeBron James had a game-high 31 points to go with five rebounds and four assists. However, James was sloppy with the ball. He coughed up eight of the team’s 16 turnovers.
Kyrie Irving chipped in 17 points, six rebounds and seven assists.
Cleveland (33-22) was without a third of its Big Three. Power forward Kevin Love couldn’t go after sustaining a right eye abrasion in Wednesday’s game against the Miami Heat. The Cavaliers missed his presence dearly.
Timofey Mozgov was plagued with foul trouble and it had a negative effect on the entire team. After picking up his third foul in the second quarter, Blatt opted to go with a small lineup of Irving, Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, James Jones and Tristan Thompson.
Mozgov was later called for his fourth personal in the third and Blatt again inserted the undersized Jones to guard Bulls center Joakim Noah. With Love out, their lack of frontcourt depth showed immensely.
The same lineup was used when Mozgov was whistled for his fifth early in the fourth. Chicago’s big men had a feast in the paint. Noah pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds (with 10 points) and Pau Gasol went for 18 points and 10 boards.
Despite foul trouble, Mozgov still added 13 points, 11 boards and a block.
The energy level and attention to detail was absent from the Cavaliers on Thursday. Blatt said before the game that he stressed the importance of finishing the first half of the season out strong, opposed to checking out prematurely.
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