Chicago Bulls vs Cleveland Cavaliers: Instant Analysis

Your Chicago Bulls scratched and crawled their way back to a .500 record (18-18 overall, 7-11 on the road) in Cleveland tonight, eking out a win against a Cleveland Cavaliers team that was down three starters (26-8 overall, 18-3 at home). It was a DOUBLE-DIGIT victory, 106-94.

Must Read: Bulls Blurbs - Butler's Big Bang

Well, shoot. After a relatively even first three quarters, Jimmy Butler brought the Bulls home, proving the old Stacey King adage that big time players make big time plays! Butler, Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott, Nikola Mirotic and Michael Carter-Williams (who all scored in double figures) capitalized on the absence of Kevin Love (replaced by Channing Frye, who notched 15 points and five rebounds), Kyrie Irving (replaced by Jordan McRae, who had 21 points, three rebounds and two dimes) and JR Smith (substituted by Chicago native DeAndre Liggins, who had just two points in 23 minutes). Your Chicago Bulls handed Cleveland just its third home loss in 21 games.

A small side note to reiterate: embattled Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg really should have played slightly-more-embattled point guard Rajon Rondo tonight, knowing that he would be getting National Television Rondo thanks to an ESPN broadcast. Now that Hoiberg is being honest about his awareness of the $15 million sunk cost’s abilities (relatively speaking) running the point, wouldn’t it make sense to slot the mercurial Kentucky product back into the line-up, to run a shooting bench unit that could use his facilitating touch?

This feels all the more obvious with Denzel Valentine sidelined again, thanks an ankle injury after a promising and all-too-brief return. We knew he was brittle heading into the draft, folks, but the fact that the rookie has played in all of 23 games (out of a possible 36) across all of 252 total minutes thus far with two injuries to the same ankle is… troubling.

More from Bulls News

Rondo needs to be in the rotation, to salvage what little harmony remains in the Chicago locker room and to make him even mildly appealing to another ball club. Otherwise, Chicago may be left with little recourse but to waive him later this season. And we all know how much Jerry Reinsdorf hates dead money.

Anyway, back to the game. Dwyane Wade returned from a one-game absence, his knee swelling apparently contained. The Man They Called “Flash” joined iron man All-Star Butler (averaging almost 37 minutes a night now) to do battle. Cleveland jumped all over a lethargic Bulls squad to start, up 15-2 within the first five minutes of play. The Bulls started things off shooting 1-for-10 from the floor, including an embarrassing Jimmy Butler airball (Butler would go 0-for-5 for the first period, stupidly played by Fred Hoiberg for all 12 minutes of the quarter). Taj Gibson and Michael Carter-Williams (despite an airball from deep) helped keep things competitive in the quarter after that with some interior scoring and rebounding.

Happily, the Bulls kicked off a 16-3 run (thanks to a triple from Doug McDermott, a triple plus a jump shoot from Doug McDermott, plus a trey, bank shot and 3-point play from Nikola Mirotic) to start the second quarter, with a then-scoreless Butler glued to the bench (perhaps not coincidentally, LBJ was sidelined during this run, too). This moved the needle to a 30-26 margin in the Bulls’ favor halfway through the second period. Chicago would enter the halftime break up, 54-46.

Butler was ice cold throughout the third quarter, as the Bulls were carried by Gibson, Mirotic, McDermott, and new starting point guard Carter-Williams (please don’t give him a crazy contract this summer though, GarPax – he’s just a back-up!). Gibson had a fantastic and efficient night, scoring 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field, pulling down seven rebounds, dishing out two assists, and logging a steal and a block.

More from Pippen Ain't Easy

But at this point, we’ve come to expect wonderful, workmanlike quality output from Gibson, the Bulls’ longest-tenured player. The happy surprise was the performances of the three erratic Bulls role players. An aggressive and motivated McDermott had 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting (including a 3-of-4 scoring night from beyond the arc), six rebounds, one assist and one steal. Mirotic posted 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting (he went 3-of-7 from deep), to go along with four boards, four assists, and two steals – granted, those four assists came with four turnovers, but still. Despite taking three ugly 3-pointers (and missing them all, badly), Carter-Williams scored 13 points on a good 6-of-13 field-goal shooting night, and used that awesome 6’11” wingspan to his advantage on the defensive end of the floor. Wade, though he had a poor shooting night (he went just 3-of-9 from the floor), had a double-digit scoring eve as well, with 10 points.

With 9:43 remaining in the fourth quarter, and the Bulls’ lead cut to just two points (86-84), Jimmy Butler subbed in for Cristiano Felicio, and proceeded to push the contest out of reach. Butler made up for a miserable three quarters with a spectacular fourth, leading the Bulls with a magnificent 14-point period after scoring just six to that point. Butler finished up the night with a decent slash line of 20 points (on 7-of-20 field goal shooting, a bit of a letdown after a 52-point Monday where he converted 62.5% of his shots), six rebounds, eight assists, and one steal – and helped bug LeBron into coughing up the ball five times with typically great defense. The Bulls outpaced the Cavs by a 20-10 scoring margin after Butler returned to the hardwood, sealing the W.

I don’t care if Cleveland was missing three starters, a win on Cleveland’s home court, with LeBron present and rolling (to the tune of 31 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists) where the team had only lost two times prior (in 20 games), is impressive. Let’s see if the Hoibulls can keep up any of this momentum over the next week, as they host the Toronto Raptors and Oklahoma City Thunder, before traveling to the state’s capital to confront John Wall’s Washington Wizards on Tuesday.