Bulls get tough in final seconds, beat Cavs
The fear of failure swept over fans at the United Center, many of whom had their hearts broken by LeBron James a few months ago in the playoffs.
The Chicago Bulls seemed to be in command of Tuesday's season opener against Cleveland with a 97-89 lead with 1:16 remaining. The Commander-in-Chief himself, President Barack Obama, left his courtside seat when the lead was 8.
But then Kevin Love knocked down consecutive 3-pointers to make it 97-95, and when Derrick Rose missed a long jumper, the Cavaliers had another chance with 10 seconds on the clock.
That's when the Bulls must have summoned memories of Tom Thibodeau's defense to give new coach Fred Hoiberg his first NBA victory.
First, the Cavs put Pau Gasol in a pick-and-roll and he stuffed James' layup attempt, with the ball bouncing out of bounds with 3.6 seconds on the clock. On their second chance, the Cavs struggled to get the ball inbounds. With long-armed Tony Snell guarding the passer, Cavs guard Mo Williams finally tried a lob to LeBron, which was intercepted by Jimmy Butler as time ran out. The Bulls escaped with a 97-95 victory.
Everyone in the building, including Hoiberg — who wasn't even there — thought back to James' game-winning jumper in Game 4 of last spring's second-round playoff series, ruining the Bulls' chance to go up 3-1 in the series.
“(During the timeout), we showed a couple tendencies they do late game,” Hoiberg said. “I thought Pau made a heck of a play on the initial blocked shot to force them into a baseline out of bounds situation.
“I thought when LeBron lined up in front of the ball (it would be) similar to the play last year when he hit the 3. They had a good counter for it where they set two back-screens for him, but Jimmy stayed right into his body and just jumped up there and got the deflection.”
Nikola Mirotic led the Bulls with 19 points. Rose scored 18 in 32 minutes and Butler added 17. James finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds.
Gasol was on the floor only because Taj Gibson fouled out with 1:38 left and Joakim Noah was unavailable because of a knee injury. Noah knocked knees with Cleveland's Richard Jefferson and left the game at the 8:53 mark of the fourth quarter. Hoiberg called the injury a contusion and Noah was seen walking gingerly in the locker room.
Considering he played just 10 minutes in preseason due to a fractured left orbital bone, Rose played reasonably well. He hit 8 of 22 shots from the field with 5 assists, despite suffering from double vision in his left eye.
He's wearing a protective face mask, but maybe Rose needs to add an eye patch.
“It's all the time. Just like right now, I see two of you,” Rose told a reporter in the locker room. “Somehow I'm finding a way. When I'm out there playing, I'm only using one of my eyes. I close my left eye whenever I'm out there. I just got used to it from practice.
“I think I'm all right. I think I'm careful when I'm out there. I'm just trying to get back out there playing. I miss this game too much.”
Hoiberg had a sense of humor about Rose's plight.
“He's seeing three baskets right now,” Hoiberg joked. “I told him to aim for the middle.”
Rose struggled in the first half, hitting just 3 of 12 shots for 6 points and 1 assist. He picked it up in the third quarter, though, by either scoring or assisting on 15 of the Bulls' first 17 points. The Bulls took their biggest lead of the night at 61-48 when Tony Snell canned a 3-pointer with 8:26 left in the third.
Rose's outside shot wasn't falling and he didn't rely on it. He got most of his points on runners and bank shots, going 2-for-4 at the foul line.
“It's a step in the right direction,” Rose said. “I'm not worried about my stats or anything. I love that my teammates encourage me to shoot the ball or even drive the ball. I'm honored to be on this team because they allow me to play the same way I normally play and there's no fusses or any complaints.”
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