 never trailed and has won all three games this season against Cleveland (9-39), which has lost 16 of 17 overall.The Bulls hit 15 of 29 3-pointers and built a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter. The won for the first time since Dec 28 against Washington.Bobby Portis had 15 points while Lauri Markkanen and Kris Dunn each added 13 for the Bulls, who have rolled to two lopsided wins at Cleveland in less than a month.The Bulls defeated the Cavaliers 99-98 in Chicago on Nov. 10 and routed Cleveland 112-92 on Dec. 23 at Quicken Loans Arena.Rookie Collin Sexton scored 18 points and Ante Zizic, who is seeing playing time because of injuries in Cleveland's frontcourt, had 13.Chicago hit 12 of 22 shots in the first quarter and built a 15-point lead late in the period. Cleveland cut into the margin and trailed by six at halftime before the Bulls regained control by making five 3-pointers in the third quarter.The Cavaliers, in addition to dealing with several injuries, looked like a tired team after going 1-5 on a road trip that ended Saturday night in Denver. Cleveland missed its first eight shots and coach Larry Drew called timeout less than four minutes into the game.TIP-INSBulls: Coach Jim Boylen said a date has not been set for C Wendell Carter Jr. to undergo surgery on his sprained left thumb. Carter is expected to be sidelined for eight to 12 weeks. ... Robin Lopez started at center and Portis saw minutes in the pivot. ... LaVine dunked off an alley-oop pass from Kris Dunn in the second quarter.Cavaliers: C Tristan Thompson missed his third straight game because of a sore left foot. ''As long as he's feeling any kind of discomfort, we're going to keep him out,'' Drew said. Thompson missed 10 games in December with the injury. ... F Larry Nance Jr. is expected to miss two more weeks with a sprained right knee.TOUGH TRIPThe Cavaliers' 11-day trip began Jan. 9 and finally ended Saturday. Cleveland broke a 12-game losing streak against the Los Angeles Lakers, playing without the injured LeBron James, on Jan. 13.The Cavaliers returned to Cleveland at 4:30 a.m. Sunday. Their flight landed in the middle of a snowstorm that began early Saturday and lasted about 24 hours. The storm, which dumped about a foot of snow on the area, made the drive home a challenge.''A few guys got stuck in snow,'' Drew said. ''We were out in the middle of the intersection pushing cars. I don't believe I closed my eyes until about 6:30.'' GOOD BALANCEChicago had 11 players score and five were in double figures. Jabari Parker hit two 3-pointers early in the fourth and finished with 10. Lopez had eight points and nine rebounds.UP NEXTBulls: Host Atlanta on Wednesday.Cavaliers: Visit Boston on Wednesday.)
Jan 20, 2019Bulls, Cavaliers face off looking to end skidsChicago and Cleveland, the two teams with the worst records, collide on Monday.The Bulls (10-36) hit the road to face the Cavaliers (9-38), and combined the two teams have managed to win just one time in their past 20 games. Cleveland owns that victory, a surprising 101-95 upset of the LeBron James-less Lakers in Los Angeles on Jan. 13.Cleveland is coming off a 22-point road loss to Denver on Saturday. Chicago also lost on Saturday, suffering a 14-point home defeat at the hands of the Miami Heat.The two teams are very similar -- in a very bad way. They rank 28th and 29th in scoring per game, 26th and 27th in rebounds per game and they are tied for fewest amount of made 3-pointers per game.On the defensive side, the Bulls and Cavs are among the bottom four in opponents' field-goal percentage. But give Chicago some credit, they rank ahead of Golden State and only give up 111.6 points per game. The Cavs come into Monday's game allowing 113.9 per game.The two teams have met twice this season with the Bulls coming away with a one-point win on Nov. 10 and a 20-point win on Dec. 23. But since then, the Bulls have lost 11 of 12, including 10 in a row."You could say it's multiple things if you want," Kris Dunn tried to explain after Saturday's loss to the Heat. "At the end of the day, we just have to come together, buckle down and find a win somewhere." The mounting losses have left some Bulls dumbfounded."Something's obviously wrong," said the team's leading scorer, Zach LaVine. "We weren't losing (by) double digits earlier in the season. We might have been losing, (but) we didn't have a full roster (with injuries). We're a better team now and we're getting blown out. It doesn't make a lot of sense. We go out there and play hard. You can't fault effort." Likewise, the Cavaliers have been putting in the effort with the same losing results.Injuries have been the Cavaliers biggest bugaboo. Against Denver and Utah, Cleveland finished off a 1-5 road trip without Tristan Thompson and Larry Nance Jr. against two of the top centers -- Rudy Gobert and Nikola Jokic.If there was a shining light for the Cavs it was center Ante Zizic, and the 22-year-old did not embarrass himself. Against Gobert, he scored 15 points and had 10 rebounds. Facing off against Jokic, Zizic recorded 23 points and six boards."I was happy to see Zizic push through a back-to-back," Cleveland head coach Larry Drew said. "I think this is really his first one he's played substantial minutes and played against one of the best centers in the league in Jokic. He's got to keep working and he's got to just continue to get better, but I do see a lot of signs of improvement." The road trip for the Cavs was costly. Nance suffered a sprained right MCL and remains out.Thompson sat out the final two games of the road trip with a sore foot, the same foot that caused him to miss 10 games earlier this season. He is a game-time decision as is David Nwaba (ankle).Chicago also suffered a significant loss when Wendell Carter Jr. tore ligaments in his left thumb against the Lakers on Tuesday. The rookie has opted for surgery and probably will miss the rest of the season.--Field Level Media
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