CHICAGO—LeBron James bounced back from a subpar performance in his Cleveland homecoming the night before to score 36 points as the Cavaliers defeated Chicago, 114-108, in overtime on Friday.
Thursday’s loss to the New York Knicks surely wasn’t the season-opener James was hoping for but that was all forgotten Friday at the United Center as the four-time most valuable player also had eight rebounds in the Cavaliers’ first win of the young NBA season.
“We took two steps forward tonight,” said James. “We have an opportunity to be very good and tonight was an example of how good we can be.”
It was a far cry from his 17 points and eight turnovers against the Knicks. That marked the first time in his career that he had at least eight turnovers, fewer than 20 points and fewer than five assists.
James was also much more active with the ball against the Bulls, driving 18 times to the basket compared to just four drives on Thursday.
“The good thing about our sport is you’re able to do better the next night very fast,” James said. “Obviously I’d be very upset with myself if I was a ballplayer that got one game a week. We have the opportunity to go out and perform better the next night.”
In other games, Memphis turned back Indiana, 97-89; Milwaukee held off Philadelphia, 93-81; Phoenix stunned San Antonio, 94-89; Sacramento whipped Portland, 103-94; and the Los Angeles Clippers stormed past crosstown rivals Los Angeles Lakers, 118-111.
Tristan Thompson finished with 16 points with 13 rebounds and Kevin Love had a 16-point, 16-rebound double-double for Cleveland, who were 2-8 over their last 10 in Chicago. Thompson had a dozen offensive rebounds.
Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich each scored 20 points for the Bulls, but Rose left the game late in the third with a sprained left ankle and did not return. AFP