Thibs: I like the direction we're moving

The Bulls loss in Cleveland on Sunday might as well be nicknamed the Long Range Game. The Cavaliers knocked down 16 of 37 attempts from 3-point range, including shots at the buzzer in both the first and second quarters, along with a beyond half-court basket by Kyrie Irving when the shot clock was about to expire.

"(Of all the made 3s), I thought there were 4 of them that we didn't defend properly," said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. "Overall, 42 percent, you're plus-5 rebounding and you have a chanced to win. So a couple things here and there. We know we have to improve, but I like the direction we're moving."

If the Bulls can hang on to the No. 3 seed in the East, they will be on target for a second-round playoff matchup against the Cavs. Atlanta and Cleveland have essentially locked up the top two seeds, but the Bulls are just a game ahead of Toronto for third. They would lose a tiebreaker because the Raptors are a division champ.

So Sunday's loss may have been good playoff preparation.

"The overall defense was good enough," Thibodeau said. "The rebounding was good enough. We had some costly turnovers that were probably the difference in the game. The four heaves they made that probably won them the game."

Hinrich describes collision:

Kirk Hinrich returned to practice Monday and talked about the knee injury that kept him out of the past two games.

Wednesday against Milwaukee, Hinrich was standing in the lane and 270-pound Bucks center Zaza Pachulia fell into his knee after committing an offensive foul. It looked bad at first. Hinrich had trouble standing up and walked very gingerly off the court.

"I was just concerned," he said Monday. "I felt a really sharp pull of my knee and hamstring. It was just kind of a scary thing. I was having a little bit of trouble putting weight on it. I never really had any issues with my knee. So more concern than anything."

James knows Thibs too well:

LeBron James wasn't entirely happy with the Cavaliers' victory Sunday, especially the part where they let a double-digit lead drop to 5 points in the fourth quarter.

"I think we turned the ball over and we got out of attack mode," James said after the game, according to espn.com. "I think we settled for a lot of jumpers in the fourth quarter.

"So, we controlled the game, but we allowed them to get back in the game because of what we did offensively. You know a Thibs team is never going to give up and we have to understand every single possession means everything and we can't take one off."