Cavaliers hold off Bulls to run record win streak to 14 games

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - On Friday night the Cleveland Cavaliers (13-0) were attempting to extend their 13-game winning streak to open the 2024-25 season and tie the 1958-59 Boston Celtics and 2002-03 Dallas Mavericks for the fourth longest streak to start a season with 14 straight. They were hosting the Chicago Bulls (5-7, 4-3 road) at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The Bulls wanted to end the streak and looked like they might do it for 45 minutes, but in the end the Cavs prevailed 144-126 to extend their franchise record winning streak to 14 games.

The Cavs were without Center Evan Mobley who was out due to illness. The Cavs did not seem to miss him early as they jumped out to a 14-7 lead capped off by a three by Donovan Mitchell with 8:32 left on the first quarter clock. The Cavs took a 22-14 lead with 6:13 left on a pull up jumper by reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week Darius Garland. Cleveland extended the lead to 32-19 with 4:39 left when Isaac Okoro hit Jarrett Allen in the paint. The lead ballooned even further to 38-21 with 3:51 left when Garland hit Caris LeVert and LeVert drained a three. After a couple minutes of sloppy play with :44 left the Cavs took a 46-32 lead when Ty Jerome hit a three from the top of the arc. When the quarter ended the Cavs led 49-34 as Garland hit two free throws after being fouled by Coby White with :04 left on the clock. Garland led all scorers with 15 first quarter points, Mitchell and Allen each had 11. Nikola Vucevic led the Bulls with 11. The Cavs out rebounded the Bulls 10-5. The Cavs also turned four Bulls turnovers into six points.

The lead grew to 18 at 54-36 with just 1:16 gone in the second quarter when Mitchell hit his third three of the game. Bulls coach Billy Donovan took an immediate timeout. After LeVert was called for a foul that really didn’t look like a foul on Jullian Phillips, Phillips made one of two free throws, the Cavs did not score at the other end after the free throws, the Bulls responded with a fast break dunk by Jalen Smith with 9:53 left to cut the Cavs lead to 57-41 and Kenny Atkinson had seen enough an called a timeout. With 6:11 left in the first half the Bulls cut the Cleveland lead to 64-56 on a three by rookie Matas Buzelis. The Cavs built the lead back to 11 at 69-58 with 4:23 left on t a three by Georges Niang. The Bulls then cut the Cavs lead back to 69-63 with 3:19 left after a Cavs turnover and a dunk by Zach Levine. Cleveland’s lead shrunk even further to 69-65 on a fall back jumper by LeVine with 2:39 on the clock. The Bulls were not going away as they cut the lead to 77-73 with time running down and that was the score at the halftime. The 73 point first half for the Bulls was the most the Cavs have given up in a half this season. The second most as was to the Bulls on Monday when they gave up 66 first half points. Garland and Vucevic led all scorers with 18 points apiece in the first 24 minutes. The Cavs turned the ball over nine times in the first half resulting in 12 Bulls points. Cleveland outrebounded Chicago 19-14 in the half. Both teams shot really well in the first half as the Cavs shot 65% (28 of 43) and the Bulls shot 58% (28 of 48). The Cavs shot 19 threes draining three of them while the Bulls shot 25 hitting 13.

The Bulls came out on the offensive immediately in the second half as Vucevic drove the lane, hit the layup and was fouled to pull the Bulls to within 77-76 with :14 gone in the quarter. The Cavs responded and with 9:07 left the Cavs built the lead to nine points at 85-76 on a three by Niang, it was his third of the game. The Bulls pulled to within one point again at 85-84 and then with 6:04 left White scored and was fouled and tied the game 87-87 on the free throw. The Cavs regained the lead with 5:43 left in the third when LeVert hit Allen in the paint. The Bulls followed by taking a 90-89 lead with 5:23 left on a three by White. Cleveland regained the lead 92-90 with 4:445 left on a Garland three. With 2:56 left in the period the Cavs called a timeout leading 96-91. The Cavs extended the lead after the timeout to 99-91 on a three by Niang with 2:41 left. The Cavs, after allowing 73 first points and 39 second quarter points limited the Bulls to 29 in the third quarter and took a 107-12 lead to the fourth quarter. White led all scorers through three quarters with 26 points. Garland paced the Cavs with 23 and Allen had 20. The Cavs were still winning the battle of the boards 29-25.

With 10:41 left the Bulls tied the game 110-110 when Isaac Okoro fouled Jalen Smith, and he drained both free throws. The Cavs regained the lead when Mitchell hit a jumper, and the Cavs led 112-110. The lead was then at 114-110 after Mitchell was fouled by Levine with 9:26 left and Mitchell drained both as the sold out crowd chanted M-V-P, M-V-P. The Cavs lead grew to 122-113 with 6:08 left when Garland beat Josh Giddey driving the lane. The Bulls cut the Cavs lead to 122-117 with 3:57 left when Levine drove the lane untouched. After Levert converted one of two free throws to put the Cavs up 123-117 Ayo Dosunmu blocked a Cavs shot and scored at the other end to cut the Cleveland lead to 123-119 with 2:50 left. Garland was fouled and hit both shots extending the Cavs lead to 125-119 with 2:40 left. After the Cavs stifling defense caused two consecutive Bulls turnover Mitchell drained a three to put the Cavs up 128-119 with 2:01 left in regulation. The Cavs scored the next seven points to seal the game capped off by a Mitchell layup with :46 left giving Cleveland 1 135-121 lead on their way to their 14th win in a row. The young Bulls looked stunned in the final 2:50 as the Cavs secured the 144-26 win outscoring Chicago 21-7. After allowing 73 first half points the Cavs limited the Bulls to 53 in the second half.

Mitchell led all scorers with 37 points. The Cavs had four players with 20+ points, Garland had 29, Allen 24 and 10 rebounds for another double and LeVert had 22. White led the Bulls in a losing effort with 29 points.

The Cavs outshot the Bulls from the field 55% (51 of 93) to 51% (45 of 89) and outrebounded them 40-36 in the game. The Cavs hit 21 three-point shots in 43 attempts for 49%. While the Bulls shot 20 of 43 for 47% from long range. The Cavs turned the ball over nine times in the first half but cleaned that up and only turned it over four times in the second half.

The Cavs will be in action next on Sunday at 6 pm at RMFH when they host the Charlotte Hornets (4-7, 1-4 road). The Cavs lead the all-time series 75-51 and have the edge in Cleveland (Richfield Coliseum, RMFH) 47-16. Sunday will be the first meeting of the year between the two teams. The Cavs were 1-2 against the Hornets last season. The Cavs won the first meeting in Cleveland, lost the only game they played in Charlotte and dropped the final game of the regular season to the Hornets at RMFH.