Max Strus scored a game-high 26 points and Jarrett Allen had 19 points and 17 rebounds to lift the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers to a 109-95 win against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night.
Craig Porter Jr. flirted with a triple-double for Cleveland, contributing 19 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, while Isaac Okoro (12 points) and Dean Wade (11) also scored in double figures.
Cleveland limited Chicago to 39 points after halftime to end the Bulls’ three-game winning streak. The Cavaliers prevailed despite shooting 44.3 percent from the field, including 26.7 percent from long range. The Bulls shot 43.8 percent overall and 22.9 percent from deep.
All five Bulls starters scored in double figures, led by DeMar DeRozan, who scored 21 points to go along with eight assists. Nikola Vucevic had 20 points and 12 rebounds and Coby White added 17 points. Patrick Williams (13 points) and Alex Caruso (10) were next.
Vucevic has logged double-doubles in his past four games against the Cavaliers.
Cleveland won for the fourth time in five games despite playing without a number of key contributors, including leading scorer Donovan Mitchell (illness), Caris LeVert (left knee tendonitis) and Sam Merrill (right wrist sprain).
White drained a 12-foot jumper with 5:03 left in the third quarter to tie the game at 69. But the Bulls went cold for the next several minutes as the Cavaliers closed the quarter by scoring 13 of the game’s next 16 points.
Cleveland surged to an 89-72 advantage, its largest lead of the game, when Damian Jones converted a three-point play with 10:55 remaining in the fourth. But the Bulls responded, cutting the deficit to 90-85 on a Williams trey with 7:10 to go.
However, that was the closest Chicago would get.
Cleveland took a 57-56 lead into halftime behind double-figure scoring efforts from Allen (13 points) and Strus, who had 11 points despite struggling to 2-for-9 shooting from long range.
Vucevic led all scorers with 15 points in the first half. White had 11.
The Cavaliers have won five straight games against Chicago.
–Field Level Media
