(Cleveland, OH) – After they finished a five-game West Coast road trip with an impressive 126-121 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers (22-20) put forth a complete performance on Monday night as they dominated the Chicago Bulls (27-16) by a score of 108-94 at Quicken Loans Arena.
A balanced attack was a noteworthy theme for the Cavs, as all five of Cleveland’s starters had scored in double figures before the end of the third quarter. LeBron James led the way for the Cavs as he scored 26 points on 12 of 23 shots from the floor to go along with five rebounds and four assists
“We have a good thing going right now and we want to try to keep it going,” said James after the game. “The best part about tonight’s game was the defensive end. We defended, shared the ball and that’s a good ingredient to a win. It’s not about the individual, it’s about the team. If we all give in to what the team needs to do to get better, then we’ll get better.”
In 41 minutes of action tonight, Kyrie Irving scored 18 points as well as dished out a game-high 12 assists. An impressive stat that was noteworthy was Irving’s one turnover, which signifies smart decision making on the floor. J.R. Smith, who drained six three pointers on Monday night, finished with 20 points and now has scored 20 or more points in three of his six games played with the Cavs so far this season.
Timofey Mozgov, who has been with Cleveland since January 7th, had his best game in a Cavs uniform as he had a double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Although he made only three of his 11 attempts from the field, Kevin Love also put forth yet another double-double for the Cavs as he scored 16 points, 12 rebounds and made nine of his 10 free throw attempts. Off the bench, Tristan Thompson had another double-digit rebounding effort with 10 rebounds, six of which were offensive rebounds, to go along with his six points on the night.
Immediately from the get-go, the Cavs seemed to be in control, as Chicago never led during the game and were down by as many as 25 points near the end of the third quarter. As the Bulls entered tonight’s game with a stellar 15-5 record on the road, the Cavs needed to suffocate Chicago defensively. Cleveland did just that as they held the Bulls to 37.5 percent shooting from the floor, including just 30 percent in the first half.
“I think this was the best defensive game of the year,” said Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt on his team’s excellent defensive effort. “We performed to the level that we need to perform to. Chicago is a high-level team. I thought we were able, today, to control that end of the court. We wanted to come home and show we had actually moved from one point to the next in a positive direction.”
Although they were without all-star center Joakim Noah for a third straight game, Chicago managed to have six players score in double figures. Bulls shooting guard Jimmy Butler led the team in scoring with 20 points and point guard Derrick Rose added 18 for Chicago. Power forward Taj Gibson had a very solid night as well with 10 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots while center Pau Gasol also had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
With Cleveland’s win and a Milwaukee Bucks loss tonight to the Toronto Raptors, the Cavs now find themselves as the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs will look to extend their winning streak to four games as they take on the Utah Jazz (14-27) at Quicken Loans Arena. The game is scheduled to tip off shortly after 7 pm ET on Wednesday night.
