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While James tied his team record by scoring 24 of his 34 points in the first quarter, Luol Deng finished with 21 to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 100-95 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night.
Tyrus Thomas added 20 points and 14 rebounds, while Joakim Noah chipped in 17 and 11 for Chicago.
The Cavaliers are trying to lock down the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference and home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, but they stumbled against a team that can only hope for a little lottery luck. With a two-game lead over Washington in the Eastern Conference when the night began, Cleveland saw an eight-point lead after the first quarter turn into a 53-47 halftime deficit.
Chicago led 68-62 before Deng buried a 3-pointer midway through the third, sending the Bulls on a run that extended their lead to 82-65 heading into the fourth. Along the way, Noah delivered two thunderous dunks over Anderson Varejao and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and Thomas added one that drew a primal roar from him and the crowd, and the Bulls hung on in the fourth.
Early on, James was the one drawing the oohs and aahs.
James, averaging a league-leading 30.2 points before this game, showed no sign of the recent back trouble that caused him to miss practice on Monday and Tuesday. He scored 33 points in a 104-83 win over New Jersey on Wednesday and kept it going against the Bulls, with the sort of theatrics another No. 23 used to perform here on a regular basis.
He made all 10 of his shots in the first quarter as the Cavaliers grabbed a 33-25 lead, dazzling the crowd with dunks and jumpers. By the end of the quarter, he had tied the club record he set in the fourth against Toronto on Jan. 6, when he finished with 39.
James, who finished 13-for-21 from the field, wowed the crowd midway through the first quarter when he drove upcourt and past Thomas for a hard dunk, and the acrobatics continued. He drove along the right side for another hard dunk with about two minutes left and went through the lane for a scoop layup with 1:34 remaining. He missed the ensuing free throw, but the Cavaliers got the rebound and James buried a 3-pointer
- his first of two in the quarter.
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James scored a season-high 51 points at Memphis on Jan. 15, and his career-high is 56 at Toronto on March 20, 2005.
They were also points were one shy of Jalen Rose's United Center scoring record for any quarter and tied Michael Redd's mark for points against Chicago in a period. The 10 field goals tied Jamal Crawford's arena record.
He finally missed a 3-pointer 59 seconds into the second quarter and headed to the sideline a minute later. With James on the sideline, the Bulls momentarily grabbed a 37-36 lead before he returned with 6:55 left in the half and kept the momentum.
Notes:@ Bulls F Drew Gooden will miss the remainder of the season because of a lower abdominal strain, interim coach Jim Boylan said. Gooden missed his seventh straight game when the Bulls hosted Cleveland on Friday and will not be available for the final three against Orlando, Milwaukee and Toronto.
[Associated Press; By ANDREW SELIGMAN]
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