CHICAGO (670 The Score) – The Bulls had their three-game winning streak snapped in a 109-95 loss to the shorthanded Cavaliers on Saturday at the United Center. Here are the observations of the evening as Chicago dropped to 13-18.
The Bulls let an opportunity get away, as the Cavaliers played without their four leading scorers in Donovan Mitchell (illness), Darius Garland (jaw), Evan Mobley (knee) and Caris LeVert (knee).
In their absence, Max Strus led all scorers with 26 points, while Jarrett Allen had 19 points and 17 rebounds. The Bulls refuted the notion that they took the Cavaliers (17-13) lightly in any way, instead chalking the loss up to one of those nights in a long NBA season and crediting the Cavaliers for their physical play and execution.
“I didn’t, certainly, sense that at all from these guys,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “I think they understand where Cleveland’s at in the standings compared to where we are, us being below them. Our record right now, we don’t even have the luxury to have that mentality. I did not sense that from our guys at all. And give them credit – they played well.”
The main difference in the game was the Cavaliers’ domination on the offensive glass. They had 15 offensive rebounds and 30 second-chance points. Cleveland had a monster 31.9 offensive rebounding percentage. On the other end of the equation, the Bulls had just four second-chance points.
“I felt like we were a step slow, quite honestly,” Donovan said. “We got hurt on the glass. That was certainly a factor. And then the free-throw line too. I thought we were fouling too much.”
The Cavaliers were 19-of-26 on free-throw attempts, while the Bulls were 17-of-19.
On a couple occasions, Donovan used the dual center pairing of Nikola Vucevic and Andre Drummond together. He rarely does it because of his concern about them guarding in space, but the Cavaliers were relying on their brute force rather than their pick-and-roll attack with Mitchell and Garland out.
The Vucevic-Drummond pairing was +2 in its stint in the first half, then -6 during a key stint late in the third quarter as Cleveland stretched its lead from four to 10. In six possessions with those two sharing the floor in the third quarter, the Bulls didn’t record a field goal and scored just three points across a stretch of 2:50.
“We ended up going big there, but that didn’t really cure the rebounding problem quite honestly,” Donovan said.
Strus, the local product from Stagg High School and DePaul, admitted he has extra motivation in facing the hometown Bulls, with whom he was on a two-way contract in 2019 before tearing his ACL.
“For sure,” he said with a smile.
Strus joined the Cavaliers on a four-year, $63-million deal this past offseason after playing three seasons for the Heat. Strus is averaging 14.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists in his first season with Cleveland.
Strus was asked if he heard from the Bulls this past summer during free agency.
“Maybe a phone call, but it wasn’t much,” Strus said.
Strus wears No. 1 in honor of former Bulls point guard and 2011 MVP Derrick Rose, his favorite player growing up. Strus bought a suite at the United Center on Saturday and invited a number of family and friends to the game.
“I’ve got a little extra money in my pocket now, so I can afford it,” Strus said.
The Bulls’ hot outside shooting for the past few weeks has cooled off recently. After going 7-of-28 on 3-pointers in a win against the Spurs on Thursday, the Bulls were 8-of-35 on 3-pointers in their loss Saturday.
Coby White, who has been red-hot for more than a month, scored 17 points on 8-of-19 shooting. He was 0-of-8 on 3-point attempts.
“I thought the ones we took were good, they were open,” Donovan said. “I didn’t think we forced any (threes).”
The Bulls’ bench scored just 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting.
With Zach LaVine and Torrey Craig sidelined by injury, second-year wing Dalen Terry has continued to get more opportunity. He had a solid effort Saturday, scoring six points on 2-of-3 shooting in 17 minutes and providing his usual active defense.
Terry had a strong baseline drive for a dunk and a nifty layup in transition in the first quarter. Making plays like that and contributing a little bit offensively is a key to him earning more playing time. In 68 minutes of playing time across the previous five games, Terry had recorded just seven points.
“Dalen came in off the bench and gave us really good minutes and really good energy,” Donovan said.
Cody Westerlund is an editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.