The Chicago Bulls will try to score a victory against LeBron James and the Cavaliers when the teams meet for the fourth and final time this regular season in Cleveland tonight (6:30 p.m. CT | CSN & ESPN/ESPN Radio 1000). The Bulls (26-32) bounced back from Thursday's heartbreaker against the Cavaliers with a 108-101 triumph over the New York Knicks on Friday. Chicago is within 2 1/2 games of Milwaukee for the eight and final playoff spot. Kirk Hinrich scored 33 points and backcourt mate Ben Gordon had 32 for Chicago, who outscored New York in the fourth quarter, 30-16. The Cavaliers (33-26) avoided their sixth consecutive loss Thursday with a frantic 92-91 victory over the Bulls in Chicago. James scored 33 points and found Ronald "Flip" Murray for the game-winning 3-pointer as Cleveland improved to 3-0 against Chicago this season. "We had to win this," said James, who added 11 rebounds and eight assists. "I think if we lost this game after being up 25 points, it would've been awful for us and could've carried into a few more games. This was a must win for us." Tune in to watch this evening's game on Comcast SportsNet Chicago and ESPN or listen to it on ESPN Radio 1000 (pregame at 6:00). Visit Bulls.com or click here now for a complete preview of this evening's contest. Probable Bulls Starters Guard 12 Kirk Hinrich 6-3 | 190 Guard 7 Ben Gordon 6-3 | 200 Forward 9 Luol Deng 6-9 | 220 Forward 3 Tyson Chandler 7-1 | 235 Center 35 Malik Allen 6-10 | 255 Probable Cavaliers Starters Guard 20 Eric Snow 6-3 | 205 Guard 2 Flip Murray 6-3 | 197 Forward 23 LeBron James 6-8 | 240 Forward 90 Drew Gooden 6-10 | 242 Center 11 Zydrunas Ilgauskas 7-3 | 260 Injury Report Bulls Malik Allen (sprained neck) did not practice Saturday is questionable. For a full report and the latest on Bulls' injuries, check out the AthletiCo Injury Report at Bulls.com. Cavaliers Drew Gooden has flu-like symptoms. Larry Hughes (right long finger fracture) and Luke Jackson (fractured left scaphoid - broken left Wrist) are out. Series Notes Chicago owns a commanding lead in the all-time series, 93-70 ... the Bulls have won just four of the last 17 meetings in Cleveland ... last season, the two clubs split the season series (2-2), with both teams winning at home ... the Cavaliers have not swept a season series against the Bulls since the 1998.99 season (3-0).
Hopefully the Bulls wont fall behind in this one early like the past two games. Although we lack a dominant low-post scorer, when we do have opportunities in the paint we can't afford to miss those lay-ups. I expect Hinrich and Gordon to both have another big scoring game tonight. Let's see if we can get Luke out on the floor and see what he can do. Go Bulls!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MiamiBalla12:</div><div class="quote_post">Hopefully the Bulls wont fall behind in this one early like the past two games. Although we lack a dominant low-post scorer, when we do have opportunities in the paint we can't afford to miss those lay-ups. I expect Hinrich and Gordon to both have another big scoring game tonight. Let's see if we can get Luke out on the floor and see what he can do. Go Bulls!</div> Hey nice to see you posting again. I completely agree with you the Bulls cannot afford to fall behind yet again tonight. They waste so much energy making a come back, often times they are burnt out to make the finally push and get over the top to win the game. The Cavaliers are not the Knicks if we fall behind by double digits it will be incredibly difficult to come back in the fourth quarter. Especially when they saw what we are capable of doing, when given the opportunity, less than a week ago in Chicago.
Yeah, hopefully they come up with a lead early. BG and Hinrich need to get their jumpshot going early on. And Bulls need good rotation defense because everybody goes to double/triple LeBron when he drives if they could, and then someone is wide open.
Where off to a quick start 5-6 from the field, but we cannot box out to save our lives. The Cavaliers have seven points off of second chance opportunities. Another bright spot though thus far has been Tyson Chandler he has already had a monster swat. Let’s hope we can start boxing out, and pull away.
BKS, do you think Tyson tries to block too many shots sometimes when he gets those body fouls because he tries to swat? All he has to do on some w/o a foul is put his long arms up. I do like it when he blocks a lot though. PS: Did Darius make a jumpshot because getting his stroke back would be nice!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SP23:</div><div class="quote_post">BKS, do you think Tyson tries to block too many shots sometimes when he gets those body fouls because he tries to swat? I do like it when he blocks a lot though.</div> Absolutely, he is not to fundamentally sound due to not having college experience. At times when watching him play I feel like he is getting by purely on athletic ability. He has some what improved his timing as the season has developed. Earlier in the year I remember he use to be fouling out, and I would look at the box score, and it would say 20 minutes played. I feel if we would bring in a big man coach to work with him he would become an even better shot blocker then he is right now.
The Bulls cannot miss right now 73% from the field (8-11) if you take Drew Gooden out of this game we are blowing them out. Gooden has 11 points and around 8 rebounds already!
Nothing annoys me more then missing both Free Throws. Gotta atleast get 1 in. But then again I am in a bad mood cos ESPN is carrying the game but it isnt on in Australia.
Hit the lead 33 - 32. I notice Luol Deng has been getting in the boards lately. As well as scoring a lot more.
We up by two at half time we are shooting 58% and only have a two point lead, that's horrible. We have given the Cavaliers so many second chance opportunities. Ben Gordon is shooting 50% from the field eight points. Songaila is on fire 14 points off the bench. He has hit some jumpers, and gotten some easy shots around the basket. He is playing well on both ends of the court. This game is a perfect example of how tough it is for us to win games. We have to be almost perfect to even have a shot.
Donyell just popped all those treys from LeBrons penitration and then LeBron got to the basket when ever he wanted too.
Our defense is falling apart, and the Bulls are getting nervous on the offensive end. They are trying to eradicate the entire twelve point lead the Cavaliers have in one possessions by jacking up threes. We cannot buy an offensive rebound. This game is all, but over if we keep playing like this. Hell we got Duhon on Lebron.
Horrible coaching right now by Skiles we have Duhon (6?2?) on Lebron (6?7? - 6?8?). We have no one who can rebound down low. We have Deng as our power forward, and Hinrich as the small forward. It?s a horrible lineup Skiles what are you doing. We lost again.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">[IMGR]http://www.nba.com/media/cavaliers/LJames_300_060305.jpg[/IMGR]For at least one game, LeBron James silenced critics of his fourth-quarter performances. James scored 16 of his 37 points in the final period as the Cleveland Cavaliers completed their first sweep of the Chicago Bulls in seven seasons with a 91-72 triumph. James had come under fire of late for his lack of production in the fourth quarter of tight contests. It reached a head against Washington on February 24, when the 21-year-old superstar was booed by the home crowd in the late stages of the second half, when he went 0-of-8 from the floor and 4-of-12 at the line. Cleveland broke open Sunday's tight affair late in the third period when Donyell Marshall began a 17-2 burst with a pair of 3-pointers. The onslaught continued in the fourth quarter as James hit a short jumper, then assisted on another 3-pointer by Marshall, who scored 11 points. James scored the game's next six points by taking advantage of the undersized Bulls. He had two dunks and a layup as the Cavaliers took a 74-60 advantage with 8:30 remaining. Cleveland never was threatened thereafter as it swept the season series from Chicago for the first time since the 1998-99 season. Along with its problems in the interior, Chicago was hurt by abysmal free-throw shooting. The Bulls made just 7-of-19 from the line en route to a season low in points. Ben Gordon scored 17 points and Luol Deng collected 15 and 12 rebounds for Chicago (26-33), which has lost four of its last six games and is three games out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. </div> <font size=""1""><div align="center"> Recap l Box Score</div></font>
Once again, a good job of playing 24 minutes of basketball, and forgetting how to once we step out of the locker room. I still say not only does our lack of a low post scorer murder us, but we have no one on this team who can just flat out take over. No KILLER. We have to our hands on that one superstar guy who can just take over when all else fails.
