After hearing that Cavaliers All Star point guard Kyrie Irving would be out tonight with a sore right knee, not many people would have given the Cavaliers a chance to beat the Bulls on the road. Don’t let Byron Scott hear that, because the Cavs were ready to end the 11-game losing streak to the Chicago Bulls.
March 19, 2010 was the last time the Cavaliers defeated the Bulls, according to my math that was when a certain player used to be a part of this franchise. That means the first win over division rival Bulls since LeBron James left the organization in the summer of 2010.
As previously stated, no Kyrie Irving tonight, Shaun Livingston started in Irving’s place. It started as we would expect it to, ugly. But Cavalier rookie guard Dion Waiters picked a good night to be on. It was his night to lead the team with Irving on the sidelines. Waiters scored a team high 25 points and shot 10 for 16 from the field. Waiters would lead the Cavaliers to 101-98 victory at the United Center.
Both Tristian Thompson and rookie center Tyler Zeller recorded 8 rebounds for the Cavs. Thompson also scored 10 points. Shaun Livingston did a solid job filling in for Irving, scoring 15 points shooting 6 for 11 from the field.
Wayne Ellington was the leader coming off the bench with 13 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Luke Walton also added 8 points, 5 rebound, 5 assists including a huge mid range jump shot within the final two minutes to help seal the victory.
A key stat of this game, the Cavs were able to force 15 turnovers. The Cavs shot 84.2% from the free throw stripe. The Bulls only shot 73.3% from the charity stripe.
Carlos Boozer scored a game high 27 points along with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Luol Deng was Chicago’s top performer with 26 points 7 rebounds and 5 assists, playing 40 minutes.
The loss drops the Bulls to a record of 32-25, they are just 15-14 at home this season, and currently hold the #6 seed in the Eastern conference.
The Cavaliers improve their record to 19-38, and have won 3 of their last 4 games, and if you are still keeping track, 9 games back of the 8 seed.
Coming up next:
Tomorrow night, the Cavaliers come back home to Quicken Loans Arena to host the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors are 23-34 this season and have split the first two games with the Cavaliers this season. Kyrie Irving is listed as day-to-day with a right knee injury. Tip-off is at 7pm.
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