Skip to content

LeBron, Cavaliers bounce back with overtime win over Bulls

Dennis Wierzbicki / USA TODAY Sports

Apparently, Tristan Thompson wanted to go as Dennis Rodman for Halloween.

Thompson grabbed an unbelievable 12 offensive rebounds on Friday night, helping lift the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 114-108 overtime victory over the Chicago Bulls. Thompson finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks overall, reminding the Cavaliers that they still have about an hour to sign him to an extension before Friday's midnight deadline.

The game as a whole was a nice bounce-back for the Cavaliers after a woeful season opener on Thursday. The team appeared to simplify their offense against a stingy Bulls defense, and while it wasn't necessarily as efficient as some are expecting - their 114 points came on 107 possessions, only slightly above-average - it came against one of the league's best defensive fronts.

That's progress a night after the team couldn't score at all against a bad Knicks outfit.

The biggest change was LeBron James, who rebounded from a poor return to Cleveland by scoring 36 points on 14-of-30 shooting Friday. He also added eight rebounds, four assists, four steals and a bunch of highlights.

gifdsports's post on Vine
Sports On STC's post on Vine

It may not be fair to judge the Bulls off of this one. They played a six-minute stretch in the fourth quarter without Taj Gibson, who appeared to have a minor left leg injury, and far more importantly, were without Derrick Rose down the stretch and into overtime thanks to a sprained left ankle.

That's the topic that will be on the minds of Bulls' fans following a tough loss. Rose had 20 points and four assists before turning the reigns over to Kirk Hinrich, who did a pretty good impression in the fourth to help force overtime:

The Bulls-Knicks-Cavaliers season opening mini-tournament of sorts ends with each team at 1-1. The Cavs will now head out West to face Portland on Tuesday, while the Bulls face the prospect of a back-to-back without Rose in Minnesota on Saturday.

- With h/t to Eye on Basketball for videos

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox