CHICAGO — Derrick Rose scored 24 points, Kirk Hinrich had 23 and the Chicago Bulls survived some shaky free-throw shooting down the stretch to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-108 with LeBron James on the sideline on Thursday night.
Luol Deng had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Joakim Noah added 17 points and 15 boards, and the Bulls moved into a tie with eighth-place Toronto in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors hold the tiebreaker, but with Chris Bosh injured, Chicago’s odds are looking good.
The Bulls prevailed even though Rose and Deng each missed two free throws in the final 15 seconds and Cleveland’s Mo Williams scored a season-high 35 points on a night when James sat out to rest some bumps and bruises.
Chicago let a 12-point third-quarter lead slip away and couldn’t put Cleveland away after going back up by seven in the fourth.
The Cavaliers were leading 108-107 after Williams’ 3-pointer with 1:29 remaining. Noah answered with a tip-in to put Chicago back on top, and the Bulls hung on.
Taj Gibson blocked Williams’ layup with 26 seconds left and the Cavaliers couldn’t take advantage after Deng missed two free throws with 14.4 seconds left. Anderson Varejao put up an airball on a jumper and Moon had a layup blocked by Noah with 1.9 seconds left.
Rose missed two free throws, but it didn’t matter.
With the league’s best record locked up and the playoffs approaching, Cavaliers coach Mike Brown is taking a cautious approach with James. The last thing he needs is to see his superstar go down like Bosh, who suffered a facial injury against the Cavaliers, or Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut.
“Yeah, you get worried about it,” said Brown, who saw Bosh suffer a facial fracture when the Cavaliers’ Antawn Jamison elbowed him on Tuesday. “Obviously, when you see stuff like that, it makes you that much more aware — especially during that particular time — of the things that can possibly happen to one of your best players or somebody that plays a lot of minutes for you.”
The idea of limiting James’ minutes wasn’t appealing, either.
“Late in the season, I’d rather sit a guy out than play him 15 to 20 minutes of a ballgame because they will try to have the right mind-set going in, but sometimes, it may not be there, and can affect how they play the game,” Brown said.
So James watched from the sideline dressed in a suit and he’s a game-time decision for Friday’s matchup with Indiana.
