Bulls can't complete season sweep vs. lowly Cavs
During a season of injuries, disappointments and dreams of Duke freshmen, there seemed to be one constant for the Bulls: They could count on beating Cleveland.
Now even that quality has been buried. With a chance to complete a 4-0 season sweep, the Bulls lost to the Cavaliers 104-101 on Sunday afternoon at the United Center.
This was the eighth-straight home loss for the Bulls. It's been more than a month since their last UC victory, on Dec. 21 against Orlando. Cleveland (10-41) has lost 18 of its last 20 games.
Much of the focus during postgame interviews focused on the late-game shot distribution. Trailing by 1 with 17 seconds on the clock, the Bulls turned to point guard Kris Dunn, who drove to the basket against Rodney Hood and missed a layup attempt. After a pair of free throws by the Cavs, Zach LaVine missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the tie.
"I just read and reacted, went to the basket and tried to get the ball on the rim and see if it went in," Dunn said. "If not, see if RoLo (Robin Lopez) can come from the back side to tip it in. Coach, he didn't want a pull up. Try to get to the basket and get on the rim."
Hood contested the shot well, there was some slight contact and Dunn bounced it too hard off the backboard. The only player there for the rebound was Cavs center Ante Zizic.
The Bulls (11-39) haven't won many games over the past two seasons, but Dunn has the best track record as a late-game closer, usually with his pullup, midrange jumper. Dunn hasn't been shooting the ball particularly well lately, though. So it's natural to ask about maybe looking to Lauri Markkanen (21 points) or LaVine (17) on that possession.
"They were face-guarding Lauri and they were face-guarding Zach," coach Jim Boylen said. "There wasn't a guy within 10 feet of KD. I thought he made a good move and you hope for a foul, you hope for a bucket and I thought he made a good play.
"It's hard to get to the rim in the fourth quarter, especially in the last minute, and I thought we did that. I'm proud of him for that."
Inside the locker room, no one complained about not getting the ball. Markkanen said he was being hugged by Cavs forward Cedi Osman. LaVine did disagree with the face-guarded description.
"I didn't feel like they were face-guarding us. I didn't feel that," he said. "We were getting open shots, we were getting good shots in the offense. We came back from 8 (down). We got back to the game, we had the lead, we just have to finish the game.
"I got the last shot to send it to overtime and I missed it. I pride myself on making tough shots."
LaVine made a valid point. The Bulls started the fourth quarter in a 79-79 tie, but the Cavs quickly built an 8-point lead. Boylen sent in the five starters with 9:11 left and all five scored during the late comeback.
Wayne Selden Jr. got his first start with the Bulls, filling in for the injured Chandler Hutchison, and played well, with 15 points on 6 of 8 shooting.
The Bulls took the lead twice down the stretch, first on a Lopez dunk, then when Selden never hesitated on an open 3-pointer and knocked it down with 1:07 left to make it 101-100. After the teams traded misses, Lopez blocked a Hood runner, but the ball landed in the hands of Cavs guard Alec Burks, who hit a go-ahead baseline jumper with 17 seconds left.
Markkanen matched his season-high with 15 rebounds, while LaVine set his season-high with 12 boards. Jabari Parker, who had been playing well, was limited to 11 minutes and scored 8 points.
"I didn't like the defense in that second group, so they all came out," Boylen said, refusing to single out Parker. "The whole group came out."
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls