Butler, bench lift Bulls to 106-94 win over Cavs
The Bulls couldn't have started much worse in Wednesday's game at Cleveland. Five minutes in, the visitors trailed 15-2.
Then the Bulls seemed to look around, realize the defending champion Cavaliers were missing three starters and started feeling confident.
Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic led a comeback in the second quarter, then Jimmy Butler finished it off in the fourth and the Bulls beat Cleveland 106-94 at Quicken Loans Arena.
Fluke or not, the Bulls are now 5-1 against the Cavs over the past two seasons. They won an earlier meeting at the United Center when the Cavaliers were close to full strength.
Cleveland (26-7) was down a few men on Wednesday. Kyrie Irving missed his third straight game with a hamstring injury. Kevin Love, recovering from food poisoning, did not play. J.R. Smith is out for a while with a broken thumb.
Even LeBron James stayed home from shootaround because he was battling the flu. James was his normal self once the game tipped off, though, finishing with 31 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists.
This was essentially how the Bulls were hoping to play all season, mainly with McDermott and Mirotic playing valuable roles off the bench.
In the first half, Butler and Dwyane Wade combined to hit 2 of 14 shots from the field for 6 points, yet the Bulls held a 6-point halftime edge. That's because McDermott and Mirotic were the team's leading scorers, with a combined 26 points. McDermott went 6-for-6 from the field with 3 baskets from 3-point range in the first half.
The Bulls stretched the lead into double digits in the third quarter. The Cavaliers made a comeback, closing within 89-88 with 6:48 remaining after a James drive.
That's when Butler took over. He took a charge against James, then scored the Bulls' next 7 points.
Butler scored 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter. He was coming off a 52-point performance on Monday against Charlotte.
Taj Gibson finished with 18 points, hitting 9 of 10 shots from the field. McDermott finished with 17 points and Mirotic scored 16. Point guard Michal Carter-Williams might have had his best game as a Bulls, with 13 points.
Dwyane Wade returned after missing Monday's game with a swollen left knee and scored 10 points in 27 minutes.
The Bulls set a season-high by making 13 baskets from 3-point range on 30 attempts. The previous high was 11, which the Bulls hit in two of their first three games of the regular season.
At the morning shootaround, Rajon Rondo talked briefly about his weekend meeting with Bulls management. Rondo did not play Wednesday for the third straight game.
Last Saturday, Rondo said if he wasn't in the Bulls' plans, he would like to find a new home.
He said there "wasn't a clear-cut message" from John Paxson and Gar Forman during their meeting after Saturday's loss to Milwaukee.
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