Markkanen catches James' attention as Chicago Bulls lose to Cavs
The Chicago Bulls aren't used to scoring moral victories against Cleveland. Fred Hoiberg had won seven of eight games against the Cavaliers since becoming coach of the Bulls, including five in a row.
On Tuesday night at Quicken Loans Arena, the Bulls got off to a fast start and led by as many as 14 points in the first half. But these aren't the defensive-minded, experienced Bulls of the past.
LeBron James was able to bring the Cavs back against the rebuilding Bulls, earning a 119-112 victory.
James finished with 34 points and 13 assists, starting at point guard in a revamped Cleveland lineup that saw ex-Bull Dwyane Wade (11 points) coming off the bench.
Justin Holiday led the Bulls with 25 points, but the story of the game from the visitors side was the performance of rookie Lauri Markkanen. The 7-foot sharpshooter scored 17 points and hit 5 of 6 attempts from 3-point range in the first half. Markkanen scored just 2 points in the second half as James and friends got the memo.
"They kind of shocked us with a few of their shots," James told reporters in Cleveland. "If you go over the last couple years with these Bulls teams, they really haven't been a perimeter-shooting team. They've kind of changed that now.
"That's the second game - preseason game and today - where they shot the ball extremely well from the perimeter. We changed that in the second half. We got a little closer to them, made them miss some shots, got a couple 24-second shot-clock (violations) and that worked in our favor."
The Bulls hit 12 of 20 shots from long range before halftime, then 5 of 13 in the second half. The Bulls led 92-91 heading into the fourth quarter but couldn't get enough stops of defensive rebounds down the stretch.
Asked specifically about Markkanen, James made it clear he already was familiar with the Finland native.
"I watched him a lot at Arizona," James said. "He wore my shoes a couple times. He wore my retro 'Brons a couple times. I like that. I had to stay up very late to watch those Arizona games.
"(He's a) very confident kid. He can shoot the heck out of the ball. And he's going to continue to get better. The best thing about it is, he's getting an opportunity. So he can make mistakes, he can learn on the fly, but he's going to play a lot. He's good; it seems like he's learning."
The Bulls ended up with seven players in double figures. Besides Holiday and Markkanen, ex-Cavs guard Kay Felder and Denzel Valentine each scored 13 points off the bench. Jerian Grant had 12 points and 10 assists, while Paul Zipser and Robin Lopez added 11 points.
After the game, Hoiberg praised the short-handed Bulls for battling the three-time defending Eastern Conference champs, but he also wants to talk more Markkanen.
"It was great to see Lauri get off to that start," Hoiberg said. "I thought our guys did an excellent job of finding him. In the third quarter, they really made it a point of switching out to deny. When he tried to take it down in the block, he just lost it a couple times, but that will come with strength.
"He's going to be a heck of a player, man. Just to see him out there battling the way he did against this type of competition on the road says a lot about him."
The Bulls (0-3) have a couple of home games up next, Thursday against Atlanta and Saturday against Oklahoma City. Point guard Kris Dunn (dislocated finger) is expected to return to the lineup in one of those games.
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