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 Bulls guard Derrick Rose added 18 points and five assists as
Chicago's Fred Hoiberg won his NBA coaching debut five months after
the team dismissed Tom Thibodeau.
LeBron James led Cleveland with 25 points and 10 rebounds in 36
minutes. Kevin Love tallied 18 points and eight rebounds in his
first game since dislocating his left shoulder in April.
President Barack Obama watched the game from a front-row seat. Obama
abandoned his standard suit and tie for a casual dress shirt, and he
cheered after several aggressive drives to the rim by Rose.
The Cavaliers pulled within 97-95 in the game's final seconds. James
drove to the paint in an attempt to even the score but Bulls forward
Pau Gasol swatted James' layup attempt out of bounds.
After trailing for most of the game, Cleveland grabbed an 83-82 lead
on a layup by James. The Bulls responded with an 11-2 run to regain
a 93-85 edge.
Cleveland closed the third quarter on an 8-0 run to cut Chicago's
lead to 71-68. The rally took place without James, who lay on his
bothersome back near the Cavaliers' bench and stared toward the
rafters. James returned to the game with 9:53 remaining in the
fourth quarter.
Chicago led 46-40 at halftime behind Hoiberg's spread offense, which
featured three-point shooting from Mirotic, Doug McDermott and Tony
Snell.
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McDermott put the Bulls on top by nine points with a three-pointer
from the left and a baseline drive. James answered with a
three-pointer with 1.9 seconds left in the half to slice the deficit
to six.
A 17-2 run by the Bulls in the final six minutes of the first
quarter gave Chicago a 26-17 lead. Mirotic initiated the rally by
hitting back-to-back shots from beyond the arc and converting a
three-point play for nine consecutive points.
(Compiled by Peter Rutherford)
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