The Cleveland Cavaliers will make their second attempt to clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference on Tuesday when they host the Chicago Bulls.
The first bid didn’t go so well for the Cavaliers (62-16), who suffered just their second loss in eight games with a 120-113 setback to the Sacramento Kings on Sunday. Cleveland resides four games in front of the second-place Boston Celtics (58-20) with four games remaining for each team.
“I didn’t think our energy level was where we thought it would be,” Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson said of the loss to the Kings.
Ty Jerome scored 20 points off the bench on 9-for-13 shooting Sunday in his return from a five-game absence due to a knee injury.
“The energy kind of comes and goes, but the game plan discipline, I think is where we had the most slippage,” Jerome said. “Just kind of about giving their main guys the shots they want, which is just not really acceptable at this time of the year.”
Donovan Mitchell survived an injury scare and finished with 19 points versus Sacramento. The six-time All-Star also had six rebounds and six assists to offset a 7-for-16 shooting performance that included a 1-for-6 effort from 3-point range.
Mitchell fared significantly better in the three previous meetings with the Bulls this season. He scored 36 points in the Cavaliers’ 119-113 win on Nov. 11 in Chicago, 37 in a 144-126 victory four days later in Cleveland and 28 in a 139-117 triumph on March 4.
The Bulls (36-42) rebounded after the most recent loss to the Cavaliers and won 12 of their next 16 games. Ninth-place Chicago sits one game behind the Atlanta Hawks and two back of the Orlando Magic as the teams jockey for position in the play-in tournament.
Coby White sank six 3-pointers to highlight his 37-point performance in the Bulls’ 131-117 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.
White has averaged 32 points on 31-of-48 shooting from the floor and 11-of-21 attempts from 3-point range over the past three games.
“Coby’s been great,” Chicago coach Billy Donovan said. “I think he’s playing really well. I think the one thing that’s helped him is he’s really figured out different angles and ways to get himself to the free-throw line.”
White also made all seven of his free-throw attempts on Sunday.
“He’s got really good awareness now of where defenders are and where he’s got an advantage,” Donovan said of White. “But I think all the way around just the way he’s shooting the ball, his shot selection, the way he’s spraying it out, the way he’s generating shots for others. I think he’s got a really nice blend of keeping himself aggressive but at the same point keeping everyone else involved.”
Josh Giddey collected 23 points, 10 rebounds and Nikola Vucevic added 16 and 11, respectively, on Sunday.
Chicago shot 53.5 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from 3-point range en route to recording its third consecutive win.
–Field Level Media
