CAVALIERS 115, BULLS 112
With odds stacked against Bulls, streak ends at 7
That’s why when the Bulls landed here early Thursday morning, they had to wait 40 minutes to disembark.
The Bulls had every excuse in the world to wilt later on Thursday. Their travel woes. A back-to-back set of games. LeBron James. Four straight turnovers to open the fourth quarter to dig a 10-point hole.
Instead, not until Denzel Valentine’s desperation heave off a well-guarded final inbounds play came up short did the Bulls succumb to the Cavaliers 115-112.
The seven-game winning streak is over. Nikola Mirotic no longer is undefeated. But in perhaps the best sign that this season has changed course, there wasn’t much talk of moral victory in the locker room.
“We should have pulled this one out,” Lauri Markkanen said.
Added Kris Dunn, who had a season-high 14 assists: “There’s a reason we were on that winning streak. We had an edge. We played tough. It just sucks that the way we’ve won close games is defensive stops and we couldn’t get them tonight.”
James, of course, was the main reason. He scored 11 of his 34 points in the fourth and assisted or scored on 17 of the Cavaliers’ final 19 points, repeatedly drawing Dunn or Denzel Valentine on a switch and overpowering them.
“We’ll take some positives but we have to learn from what we did to start the fourth,” coach Fred Hoiberg said. “You just can’t have lapses on the road against a great team like this.”
Bobby Portis committed two turnovers, Jerian Grant one and Paul Zipser another as the Cavaliers capped an 11-0 run that began late in the third quarter to build that 10-point lead. They did so without J.R. Smith, who sat with a sore left knee, and coach Tyronn Lue, who ceded to assistant Larry Drew because of an illness.
But even after a Kyle Korver four-point play later in the fourth, the Bulls wouldn’t go away. Markkanen made it a one-possession game on his own four-point play with 2 minutes, 12 seconds left as part of his 25 points, one off his season high. It marked Markkanen’s only 3-pointer as he repeatedly attacked the basket.
“Lauri was phenomenal,” Hoiberg said.
Mirotic, who scored 15, sank another 3-pointer in the final minute to make it a one-possession game again. The Bulls attempted 31 3-pointers to just eight free throws, although they did post a season-high 34 assists, so those 3s were mostly good looks.
After James missed, Valentine, who tied his season high with 18 points, scored on a driving layup with 14.3 seconds left. James sank two free throws with 11.1 seconds left. And then the Cavaliers, who won for the 12th straight time at home, turned the screws defensively.
“Lauri was coming off a screen, but they played it well and switched it,” Hoiberg said. “Denzel was the open man on the backside. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a better look than that.”
The Bulls, who had become the first team in NBA history to win seven straight games after 10 straight losses, did surpass 100 points for the eighth straight game. That’s no small feat given they had done so just eight times in their first 23 games.
“Honestly, I’m very proud of the team,” Mirotic said in one of the few moral victory comments. “They’re one of the best teams right now. We competed. We found a way to get back into the game with good defense and finding the open guy. We need to go with our heads up to Boston.”
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