The Chicago Bulls drew first blood in their highly anticipated second-round showdown with the Cleveland Cavaliers, holding on for a 99-92 Game 1 victory.
The Bulls jumped out to a 21-7 lead in the game's first seven minutes, as the Cavs' newly minted starting five featuring Iman Shumpert and Mike Miller was torched by a Chicago team picking up where it left off in its series-clinching demolition of the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Cavs fought back to tie the game for a total of about a minute and a half in the third quarter, but that was as close as the home side came in the series opener.
As game broadcast noted, this was 1st time a LeBron James team never led in a HOME playoff game (85 games, including tonight)
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 5, 2015
Turning Point
After a Kyrie Irving layup evened the score at 53 early in the third quarter, the Bulls went on an incredible 15-0 run over the next 2:34 of game time, with Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler and Pau Gasol scoring five points apiece in quick succession to stun the Cavs.
Cleveland made a couple of late runs to make things interesting, but the Bulls never relinquished the lead after that run.
An argument can also be made that the Cavs starting Miller was a turning point in and of itself.
Miller made one of his two 3-point attempts and grabbed five rebounds, but he looked rusty and painfully overmatched after logging just 700 minutes during the regular season. His presence allowed the Bulls to hide Mike Dunleavy on him on one end while Dunleavy abused him on the other.
It's no wonder the Bulls were most dominant in the opening segments of each half, with Miller finishing a pitiful minus-20 in only 16 minutes.
The Cavs are looking for floor spacing with Kevin Love out, but it's probably safe to say the Miller experiment is over, and the team may simply be better served rolling with a Tristan Thompson-Timofey Mozgov frontcourt to match Chicago's size.
Star Performer
Irving scored a game-high 30 points and dazzled with a number of spectacular plays, and Rose led the Bulls with 25 in a battle of star point guards, but it was Gasol whose play buoyed the Bulls, particularly in the second half.
He finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four blocks on 10-of-16 shooting, while registering a game-high plus-17 rating in 35 minutes of action.
Gasol's 13 third-quarter points helped the Bulls quell a Cavs rally and silence a rising Quicken Loans Arena crowd, with the Rose-Gasol pick-and-roll, especially, hurting Cleveland.
Highlight Reel
Irving dribbles out of trouble, slithers through traffic, and switches to the right hand to convert an unbelievable reverse layup:
Butler provides the final dagger:
Series At A Glance
Game 1: Bulls 99, Cavaliers 92
Game 2: Wednesday, May 6, 7 p.m. ET.
Game 3: Friday, May 8, TBD
Game 4: Sunday, May 10, 3:30 p.m. ET
*Game 5: Tuesday, May 12, TBD
*Game 6: Thursday, May 14, TBD
*Game 7: Sunday, May 17, TBD
*If necessary
