Thomas makes most of quick trip

CLEVELAND - Tyrus Thomas, flattened by the flu for two days, caught a commercial flight to Cleveland on Thursday afternoon and made the trip worth his while.

Coming off the bench to play 12 minutes, Thomas scored 6 points, including a couple of jumpers when the Bulls took control of the game early in the fourth quarter.

"I was all right," he said in the locker room. "I just came to support the team however they needed me, whether it was cheering or getting a couple minutes, whatever. I did and it helped, I guess.

Before getting on the plane, Thomas was cleared to travel by Bulls team physician Kathy Weber. He described his health during the previous two days when he missed practice and the win over Milwaukee.

"It was bad. Like death," he said. "It was bad, helpless. Fever, chills, vomiting, couldn't eat. But I'm better."

Rookie Taj Gibson started for the second straight game, contributing 11 points and 7 rebounds.

Shaq has stats: The Bulls got their first look at the Cavaliers with 37-year-old center Shaquille O'Neal in the lineup. O'Neal had a nice stat line (14 points, 10 rebounds, 5 blocks), but his presence did seem to slow down Cleveland's offense. The Bulls split defensive duties almost evenly between Joakim Noah and Brad Miller.

"He's heavy. He's very heavy," Noah said after the game. "For me, I felt like it was never the running that got me tired, it was always the banging. When he puts that heavy body into you, there's really not much you can do. He's huge. I felt like he got a lot of bounces to get where he needed to get to.

"I felt like I worked hard out there, and I feel like Brad did a good job telling me things I needed to do to disrupt him a little bit. He's Shaq. I can't imagine what he was like when he was 25, 26 years old."

The Cavs played O'Neal and 7-foot-3 Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 34, together at times. Ilgauskas missed all 9 of his shots and scored just 2 points. O'Neal never went to the foul line.

Bull horns: Guard Kirk Hinrich received three stitches in his chin after the game. He was hit with an elbow while trying to take a charge early in the fourth quarter. ... The Bulls finished with a remarkably-low 7 turnovers in this game. They had 19 on Tuesday against Milwaukee.