Cavaliers 119 Bulls 112. Cavs (3-1) - Bulls (0-3)
Bulls: Holiday 25 points. Markannen 19 points (17 in 1st half.) Grant 12 points, 10 assists.
Cavaliers: James 34 points, 13 assists. Love 20 points (10 in 4th quarter,) 10 rebounds.
KEY TO THE GAME: The Bulls played with great effort the full forty-eight minutes but the Cavs secured the win getting to loose balls and grabbing offensive rebounds down the stretch. A 15-3 run by the Cavs in the 3rd quarter gave the Cavs a push as well.
STAT OF THE NIGHT: Lauri Markannen set an NBA record becoming the 1st rookie to register 10-3 point field goals in his 1st 3 games.
A TABLE FOR THREE, PLEASE! The two teams combined to make 33 -3s - taking a whopping 71 attempts.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: LeBron James on Markannen:
“Very confident. Very confident. Watched him a lot at Arizona. He wore my shoes a couple of times. He actually did. He wore my retros. I liked that. Can shoot the heck out of the ball. He’s going to get better. The best thing about it is he’s getting an opportunity. So you can make mistakes and learn on the fly. But he’s going to play a lot because he’s learning. He’s a good player.
BULLS BENCH: Former Cavs point guard Kay Felder returned and scored 13 points in 15 minutes . Denzel Valentine buried three treys for 13 points. Valentine is shooting a blistering 50% from 3 point range through the first three games.
UP NEXT: Home with Atlanta, Thursday night. 7PM CT tip.
NBA NEWS AND NOTES:
The agent representing the NBA’s number one overall pick Markelle Fultz said Fultz received a cortisone shot in his right shoulder on October 5.
Good news for Pelicans fans, the MRI on Anthony Davis’ left knee is negative.
After a dramatic buzzer beating win on Sunday at OKC, the T-Wolves came out flat and lost at home to the Pacers. Jimmy Butler missed the game with an upper respiratory infection.
Break up the Magic.. now 3-1, as Aaron Gordon scored a career high 41 in a win over the Nets.
Former Bull, Isaiah Canaan inked a one year, non guaranteed del with Houston.
Detroit’s Andre Drummond a CAREER 38% free throw shooter has made 26-32 this season.
CCI DUNK OF THE NIGHT: Hide the kids. LAC’s Blake Griffin posterized Utah’s Rudy Gobert and it was sick, wicked and nasty! You have my permission to Google/ You Tube it and I guarantee you’ll want to see it more than once.
Thanks for reading CCI. You can reach me at cswirsky@bulls.com. Twitter: @ctsbulls.
Always a pleasure.