Cavaliers ride dominant first quarter to 121-105 win over Bulls

Cleveland avenged last Saturday’s loss and kept their slim play-in hopes alive.

In Monday’s loss to the Detroit Pistons, the Cavs fell behind early and never recovered. On Wednesday night against the Bulls, it was Cleveland’s turn to come out of the gate firing.

The Cavs led Chicago 34-12 at the end of a first quarter that featured a 16-0 Cleveland run. After that, the Bulls never really got back into the game. The lead got down to 12 in the second quarter, but the Cavs finished the first half strong and took a 17-point lead into the break. Cleveland also started hot in the third quarter, extending the lead to 26 by halfway through the quarter. The Bulls never got close again until garbage time and the Cavs coasted to a wire-to-wire victory.

Sexland led the way for Cleveland offensively, combining for 55 points and 11 assists on over 60% shooting. Kevin Love knocked down four three pointers and Larry Nance Jr. looked more like himself, scoring 10 points of the bench and hitting a couple of threes.

The Cavs losing to Chicago on Saturday and Detroit on Monday all but took them out of the race for the play-in tournament, but this win salvaged any hope they might have to still make it. However, it will be even more of an uphill climb now, with Cleveland sitting 3.5 games behind Toronto for the final spot.

Up Next: The Cavs will take on the Charlotte Hornets in Charlotte on Friday night. Tipoff is at 8p.m.