Cleveland Cavaliers eye revenge against Chicago Bulls in ‘rematch’

CLEVELAND – The Bulls held serve in Chicago, winning the first half of their back-to-back against the Cleveland Cavaliers behind a triple-double from Josh Giddey on Dec 17.

The Cavaliers will attempt to return the favour on Dec 19 (Dec 20, Singapore time) in Cleveland, along with stopping their slide down the Eastern Conference standings.

Giddey moved into 23rd place in National Basketball Association (NBA) history with his 24th career triple-double – 23 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists – on Dec 17, powering the Bulls to ​a 127-111 win.

The decisive triumph was Chicago’s second win in a 10-game span and made it 6-15 since opening the season with five straight victories. The 16-point margin was the Bulls’ largest win since April 13 at ​the Philadelphia 76ers.

“This ​is kind of what we’ve been trying to get back to for a while,” said Giddey, who is averaging 20.3 points, 9.4 rebounds and 8.9 assists. “We started the season off the right way, then went through obviously a rough stretch. This was a step in the right direction.”

Giddey, 23, is making a strong push for his initial All-Star selection. His six triple-doubles are one shy of his career-best total set last season for the Bulls.

In his ​first three pro campaigns with the Oklahoma City Thunder, he averaged 13.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists, but has exceeded those numbers across the board in both seasons with Chicago.

The Cavaliers will be extra wary of him on Dec 19.

One year after finishing with the top record in the ​East, Cleveland have plummeted from second place to eighth in the last month by losing eight of their 13 games.

Perhaps most troubling, they have lost four of their past six contests.

“I always say during these times, you discover a lot about yourself and a lot about your team,” Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said.

“And you can use it down the line. We’ll try to double up on the positives.”

Guard Donovan Mitchell has been the primary positive, averaging a career-best 30.7 points while leading the league with 105 three-pointers.

He gutted out a team-high 33 minutes at Chicago despite “being under the weather”, according to his coach.

Cleveland are 1-1 against the Bulls, beating them 128-122 on Nov 8 at home.

“The good news is we get to see these guys again, so it’s like a play-off series,” Atkinson added. “We’ve got some time to clean things up.”

Meanwhile, on Dec 18, Cooper Flagg scored 23 points as the Dallas Mavericks dug deep to upset the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons 116-114 in a bruising overtime battle.

Oklahoma City Thunder shook off the disappointment of their NBA Cup semi-final loss to rally past the struggling Los Angeles Clippers 122-101. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 32 points.

Luka Doncic scored 45 points, dished out 14 assists, collected 11 rebounds and had five steals to help the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Utah Jazz 143-135. REUTERS, AFP