No. 2: Bulls take down The King once more
Like I said earlier: any time the Bulls beat a LeBron James-led team, it’s a great victory.
Wiz of Awes
This was the fourth and final matchup between the Bulls and the Cavs. Entering the fourth showdown, the Bulls were 3-0 on the season against the Eastern Conference powerhouse. A win would mean going undefeated in the regular season against one of the top two teams in the league.
Not only did they win, but they held the offensive juggernaut to only 93 points. That’s pretty good for a .500 team.
LeBron was typical LeBron, scoring 26 points to go along with 10 rebounds and eight assists. Where the Bulls defense won the matchup, however, was forcing LeBron to shoot 7 3-pointers and counting their lucky stars that he only made one of them.
The Bulls defense also held the third member of the Cleveland “Big 3”, Kevin Love, to only eight points on 3-of-10 shooting.
The Cavs starters were just flat-out outplayed. Each member of the Cavs starting unit posted a negative plus-minus, while each member of the Bulls starting unit posted a positive plus/minus.
Nikola Mirotic led the way for the Bulls with 28 points (including 6 3’s) to go along with 10 rebounds. Jimmy Butler was a nice combo to Mirotic for the night, scoring 25 points on an efficient 10-of-17 shooting from the field and a perfect 2-for-2 from the 3-point line.
The Bulls were starting to hit their stride. Maybe.