Cavs Rally Fall Short Against Chicago

The Cavs dug themselves a 19-point hole in the first half and couldn't climb out. Their late rally falls just short and Cavs drop for their third straight game 98-94. Cleveland were at 42 percent shooting to the Bulls 48 percent. The Cavs out rebounded Chicago 46 to 37, but Chicago takes the season series, 3-1. The Bulls are now 2.0 games ahead of Cleveland in the East.

Garland leads the night in points with 28, shooting 9-22 from the field, and 9-11 from the line. He also dished out 5 assists and grabbed 6 rebounds and 2 steals. Caris LeVert had 17 points, 7-14 from the field, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal. Lauri Markkanen ends with 14 points, 9 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. Lamar Stevens came out with 13 points, 5-9FG% and 4 rebounds. Evan Mobley lead the team in rebounds with 11 and contributed 9 points.

Full recap to come.

Miss any of the action? Find all the highlights and photos in the Game Tracker.

For the third straight contest, the Cavaliers struggled to find their rhythm before intermission. And for the third straight contest, the Cavaliers were on the wrong end of the final score.

Cleveland had its most difficult first half of the season, netting just 35 points and digging themselves a 19-point first-half hole. The Wine and Gold mounted a furious fourth-quarter rally, but couldn’t close the deal – dropping 98-94 decision to the Bulls on Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Combined with Toronto’s Saturday night blowout over Indiana, the loss dropped the Cavaliers into the 7th-seed – now two full games behind the Bulls and a game behind the Raptors with just eight games to play.

Just three Cavaliers starters – plus Lamar Stevens off the bench – notched double-figures on Saturday night as Cleveland continued to tinker with the starting lineup, moving Caris LeVert in at small forward the Central Division showdown.

LeVert was solid on Saturday – netting 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting, adding five boards, three assists and a steal. The former Wolverine notched nine of his 17 points in the fourth quarter.

Darius Garland notched 14 of his game-high 28 points in that fourth quarter – going 5-of-7 from the floor in the period, but just 9-of-22 overall, including 1-of-7 from long-range, adding five assists, six boards and a pair of steals.

Garland wasn’t the only Cavalier to struggle from beyond the arc. In fact, the entire team did – with no player connecting on more than a single bomb on Saturday, shooting just 7-of-31 from long-range on the night.

Lauri Markkanen chipped in with 14 points and nine boards, going 5-of-13 from the floor, adding two assists, two steals and a block before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.

Lamar Stevens was the only Cavalier to tally double-figures off the bench – adding 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting.

The Bulls were paced by Zach LaVine, facing Cleveland for just the second time this season, who finished with 25 points on 8-of-17 shooting. All five Chicago starters registered double figure scoring in Saturday night’s win.

Miss any of the action? Find all the highlights and photos in the Game Tracker.

Isaac Okoro blocks the shot from behind against the Chicago Bulls.

After an anemic first half, the Cavaliers found themselves down as many as 19 points in the first half, by double-figures through the entire third quarter and started the fourth down a dozen.

But the Wine and Gold continued to chip away in the fourth and got to within three, 83-80, on Caris LeVert’s dunk with 5:35 to go in regulation. The Bulls, however, went on a 12-5 run from there, opening up a double-digit lead with just over a minute to play and stymying Cleveland’s late rally for the win.

1,000 … three-pointers that Kevin Love has connected on as a member of the Cavaliers – reaching that plateau in the third quarter tonight and becoming just the second player in franchise history (LeBron James – 1,251) to reach that number.

Love has connected on 146 three-pointers off the bench this season – tops in the Eastern Conference and good for 4th in the NBA.

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff, on the difference between the two halves on Saturday night …

”There wasn’t the aggressiveness that was needed. We allowed them to keep pushing, pushing, pushing. And at no point during that first half did we stand our ground and say, ‘enough is enough’ and push back. And you come out in the second half and see the difference and you see what we’re capable of on both ends. You hold a team to 98 points, and you give yourself an opportunity. We just had to be perfect in that second half, and we were pretty damn close.”

Enjoy the best broadcast calls of the night from Cavaliers Radio Network's Tim Alcorn and Rafa Hernandez-Brito from Power 89.1.

After falling to the Bulls on Saturday night in the homestand opener, the Cavaliers welcome Franz Wagner and the Magic to town Monday followed by a Wednesday night visit from Luka Doncic and the Mavericks. Cleveland wraps up the month of March on Thursday night in Atlanta.

In April, the Cavaliers play three on the road – at New York, Orlando and Brooklyn – with two contests remaining at home, welcoming Philly and the Bucks to town, the latter in the regular season finale on April 10.