GAME NIGHT FROM CLEVELAND: Bulls (8-25, 3-13 on the road) at Cleveland (8-25, 5-12 at home)
TV: NBC Sports Chicago Neil Funk and Stacey King 6PM CT tipoff.
RADIO: 670 The Score: Chuck Swirsky, Bill Wennington, Steve Kashul. 5:45 CT Pre.
LEADING SCORERS: Bulls: Markkanen: 16 ppg. Cavs: Clarkson: 16 ppg.
LEADING REBOUNDERS: Bulls: Markkanen: 7 per game. Cavs: Nance Jr. 7 per game.
LEADING ASSISTS: Bulls: Arcidiacono: 3 per game. Cavs: Nance: 3 per game.
LAST MEETING: November 10, 2018 at the United Center.
Bulls 99, Cavaliers 98. Jabari Parker with a big game-saving block on Collin Sexton propelled the Bulls to a win. Ryan Arcidiacono was terrific. The Bulls had a healthy lead only to see the Cavs storm back.
CCI PREVIEW: The Bulls are going to ride Lauri Markkaken as much as they can and they should. He is a gifted offensive player and when teams lose him on the perimeter Markkanen will make them pay. Kris Dunn is playing excellent basketball averaging 18 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists over the past four games. I’m going to love the Dunn-Sexton matchup. Expect Dunn to play him physical. Larry Nance Jr. brings a ton of energy to the Cavs and is a developing player. Like the Bulls, the Cavs are a banged up ball club. Love, Thompson, Henson, Hood are all out. J.R. Smith is chillin' at home until the Cavs deal him. Cleveland dealt Kyle Korver to Utah for Alec Burks.
CCI 24 SECONDS NBA NEWS AND NOTES
Washington 149, Phoenix 146 3 OT: Game of the night in the NBA. I was glued to NBALP. The Wizards Thomas Bryant with an NBA season high going 14-14 from the floor. He finished with a career-high 31 points and 13 rebounds. Bradley Beal registered his first career triple double. In 54 min, he scored 40 points, dished out a career-high 15 assists, grabbed 11 rebounds. John Wall missed the game with flu-like symptoms. After playing a triple OT game, the Wizards are in Indiana tonight.
Philadelphia 126, Toronto 101: Embiid and Simmons combined for 53 points and 23 rebounds.
Oklahoma City 107, Utah 106: Paul George recorded his first career 40+ back/back games. The Thunder won their fourth straight game.
Golden State 120, Dallas 116: Kevin Durant scored 29 points. DeAndre Jordan pulled down 23 rebounds for the Mavs.
Houston 108, San Antonio 101: James Harden with 39 points, 10 assists. Chris Paul is out for at least two weeks with a hamstring injury.
Miami 94, Milwaukee 87: Giannis held to nine points on 3-12 from the floor. The Bucks scored only eight first-quarter points and went 9-43 from 3 point range.
Los Angeles Clippers 132, Denver 111: The Clippers handed the Nuggets their worst loss of the season. LAC outscored Denver 80-50 in the paint.
Thanks for reading CCI. Reach out to cswirsky@bulls.com or Twitter @ctsbulls. Always a pleasure!