Cavaliers mauled by Bulls 118-106
BY TIM SHIRER
SPORTS EDITOR
(CLEVELAND, OH) - The Cavaliers entered Saturday Night’s game against the Chicago Bulls losers of six games in a row and a season record of 12-34. Things looked promising early, but the continued theme of terrible defense and to many turnovers led to the same result as the Cavs skid extended to seven as they were gored by Zach Levine and the Bulls 118-106.
The Cavaliers led 31-25 at the end of the first quarter, things looked promising holding the Bulls to only 25. The Cavaliers extended their lead to ten points at 40-30 with 8:56 left in the first half on a Larry Nance, Jr. dunk. The Cavs largest lead of the night came just 2:20 later at the 6:36 mark of the second quarter when Darius Garland drained a three pointer.
The Bulls took control of the game from that point on as they went on an 18-5 run to take a 57-55 lead with 1:22 left in the first half when Thaddeus Young scored on a running layup. Cleveland pulled tied the game at 57-57 with :51 left when Collin Sexton hit a jumper. The Bulls took the lead 59-57 on a Jumper by Tomas Satoransky with :35 left in the half, which ended up being the score at the half.
The Cavs came out with energy to start the third quarter as they went on a 7-0 to take a 64-59 lead on a jumper by Cedi Osman with 10:35 left in the third period. Osman who pledged before the game to donate $200 for every three-point shot made by the Cavs and the Bulls in the game to Earthquake relief in Turkey his home country. A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck the eastern part of European nation on Friday. Larry Nance, Jr. matched Osman’s donation.
Unfortunately, over the final 10:35 of the third period the Cavs played little defense and little offense as the Bulls outscored Cleveland 40-12 to take a 99-76 lead after three quarters.
The Cavaliers did outscore the Bulls 30-19 in the final period and pulled to within nine on a Sexton layup with 1:42 left on the clock, but the deficit was too much to overcome.
Levine led all scorers with 44 points in the contest. The Cavaliers had five players in double figures with Kevin Love leading the way with 20 points. Sexton and Osman had 18 points each.
The two teams combined to make 25 three-point baskets. The Cavs drained 13 and the Bulls put 12. The total donation by Osman and Nance, Jr. will be $10,000.
The Cavaliers will be in action next on Monday at 7:00 p.m. in Detroit against the Pistons (17-30) at Little Caesars Arena.
POSTED 01/25/2020 22:56
Lake County Sentinel
