LeBron James scored 34 points and passed out 13 assists to spark a revamped Cleveland Cavaliers lineup to a 119-112 NBA victory over visiting Chicago on Tuesday.
Four-time NBA Most Valuable Player James, whose 13-of-20 shooting included four 3-point baskets, was shifted to point guard as Cavs coach Tyronn Lue juggled his lineup in moving guard Dwyane Wade into a reserve role.
“When he’s hitting 3s you have to give up something with him,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We did a decent job contesting his shots. A lot of that has to do with you’re playing against the best player on the planet.”
While they struggled early, particularly defensively, the Cavaliers (3-1) came together to snap a five-game losing streak in meetings with the Bulls (0-3).
James was moved from forward to point guard as Wade, his former teammate on two NBA championship teams in Miami who joined the Cavs after playing in Chicago last season, was benched at his own request.
JR Smith moved back into the starting backcourt with James while the frontline saw Kevin Love moved from center to forward with Jae Crowder and Tristan Thompson took over in the middle.
The lineup move came in part because the Cavs are without Derrick Rose due to a sprained left ankle and Isaiah Thomas with a right hip injury likely to keep him out for another two months.
Love added 20 points and 12 rebounds for Cleveland while Wade, who asked for the bench role after struggling as a starter, scored 11 off the bench in only his 12th game as a reserve in 919 games over 15 NBA seasons.
Justin Holiday led the Bulls with 25 points while 20-year-old Finnish rookie forward Lauri Markkanen scored 19 and became the first rookie in NBA history with 10 3-point baskets in his first three games.
Three nights after surrendering 17 3-pointers in a loss to Orlando, the Cavs allowed Chicago 17 3-pointers but a 46-34 edge in bench scoring aided the Cavs’ win.
“Thank God for our bench, which was great,” Lue said. “But we’ve got to be better – 17 3s again where guys are just looking at us, staring us down and raising for shots. We didn’t learn our lesson.”
Gordon’s 41 leads Magic win
Aaron Gordon scored a career-high 41 points and sank the go-ahead 3-pointer with 35 seconds remaining to lead the host Orlando Magic to a 125-121 victory over Brooklyn. Evan Fournier scored 28 points, 12 of them in the game’s last 5:22, and Gordon also contributed 12 rebounds. D’Angelo Russell led the Nets (2-2) with 27 points.
Jaylen Brown scored 23 points and rookie Jayson Tatum added 22 to power the Boston Celtics over the visiting New York Knicks 110-89. Kyrie Irving had 20 points and seven assists while Al Horford added 13 points and 13 rebounds as the Celtics improved to 2-2.
Turkey’s Enes Kanter led the Knicks (0-3) with 16 points and 19 rebounds while Latvian giant Kristops Porzingis, who missed 11 of his first 12 shots, managed only 12 points.
Victor Oladipo scored 28 points while Cory Joseph added 21 off the bench to power the Indiana Pacers over host Minnesota 130-107. Indiana’s Domantas Sabonis had 15 points and 11 rebounds while Darren Collison had 15 points and 16 assists. Karl-Anthony Towns had 28 points for the Timberwolves.
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