Chicago Bulls @ Cleveland Cavaliers
Monday, January 15, 2024 at 7:00 PM ET
Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, OH | Game ID: 22300561
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
CLE 40 20 20 29 109CHI 21 25 31 14 91
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Donovan Mitchell scores 34 points as the Cavaliers pull away late to beat the Bulls 109-91
CLEVELAND -- — Donovan Mitchell scored 34 points, Jarrett Allen had 10 points and 14 rebounds for his ninth straight double-double, and the Cleveland Cavaliers pulled away late for a 109-91 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday night.
Caris LeVert added 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists off the bench as the Cavaliers extended their longest winning streak of the season to five, despite blowing a 21-point lead in the second half.
“They’re a good team, a competitive team, so we knew they were going make a run,” said Mitchell, who also had seven assists. “And we missed wide-open shots. But the biggest thing is how we responded, and we did it as a group.”
Coby White made two free throws early in the fourth quarter to put Chicago in front for the only time at 81-80, capping a 28-6 run that began after Cleveland went up 74-53 in the third.
The Cavaliers immediately answered with 10 straight points, five by Mitchell on drives to the basket, and closed out the game with a 29-10 surge.
“Right now we’re getting the timely stops we need, and the really good teams do that,” LeVert said. “We have versatile defenders and we have bigs that can switch. We’re just locking in more defensively and we’re getting better at our scheme.”
Cleveland made 20 3-pointers in a franchise-record 57 attempts — an NBA season high in regulation — as it took the court for the first time since beating Brooklyn 111-102 in Paris on Jan. 11. Mitchell, LeVert and Georges Niang each went 4 of 10 beyond the arc.
White scored 18 points and Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic had 17 apiece for the Bulls, who had won two in a row on the road. Vucevic and Andre Drummond each grabbed 10 rebounds as coach Billy Donovan played them together for much of the second half.
“What was disappointing was a lot of the (mistakes) when we went up one were self-induced,” Donovan said. “It was rushed shots, turnovers, offensive rebounds; all stuff we did to ourselves.”
Ayo Dosunmo had 10 points in the third to ignite Chicago’s rally, but could not finish the game after his sore left shoulder flared up. Patrick Williams missed his second consecutive game with right ankle soreness that is affecting his heel area.
Allen is averaging 18.8 points, 15.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists during his career-long streak of double-doubles. Cleveland is 10-3 since losing power forward Evan Mobley (left knee surgery) and point guard Darius Garland (broken jaw) until February.
“J-A gets me open, that’s for sure, and he’s willing to do the little things,” Mitchell said of Allen. “We all appreciate it. He’s playing out of his mind and he should be an All-Star. We need to get him there."
The Cavaliers made eight 3-pointers in the first — three by Niang — to build a 40-21 advantage. White had eight points in the second for Chicago, which trailed 60-46 at halftime.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
CLECL C. LeVert
DM D. Mitchell
DW D. Wade
GN G. Niang
IO I. Okoro
JA J. Allen
MS M. Strus
SM S. Merrill
TT T. Thompson
CHIAC A. Caruso
AD A. Dosunmu
AD A. Drummond
CW C. White
DD D. DeRozan
DT D. Terry
JC J. Carter
NV N. Vučević
TT T. Taylor
VU Vucevic
ZL Z. LaVine
CLE/CHI the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur