The last time these our Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers clubs squared off, Da Bulls did what they’ve done so well this season, squandering an 18-point halftime lead to eventually lose by double digits to Cleveland in overtime, 145-134. Donovan Mitchell brought the pain, scoring 71 points on 22-of-34 shooting from the field and a whopping 20-of-25 shooting from the charity stripe. The refs were kind to him, especially in the third quarter.
The Bulls’ “Big Three” of DeMar DeRozan (who had 44 points), Zach LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic all performed admirably in the January defeat, but as usual it didn’t make much of a difference, since they typically get very little help in the scoring department and can’t stop anyone on the other end.