Mirotic, Rose lead Bulls to victory as president watches
CHICAGO — Nikola Mirotic scored 19 points and Derrick Rose added 18 to lead the Chicago Bulls to a season-opening 97-95 victory over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers with President Barack Obama watching on Tuesday night.
Pau Gasol blocked a potential tying layup by James in the closing seconds. Jimmy Butler then broke up an inbounds pass intended for James as time expired.
The president sat courtside for most of the game as his beloved Bulls knocked off the defending Eastern Conference champions and gave Coach Fred Hoiberg a narrow victory in his first game.
James scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Cleveland, but the Cavaliers came up short against the team they knocked out in the conference semifinals last season.
The Bulls, playing a more open offense with Hoiberg than they did under Tom Thibodeau, did not exactly light it up. But they came away with a promising victory.
Rose, playing with a mask to protect his fractured left orbital, shot just 8 of 22 after missing almost the entire preseason.
Mirotic nailed 3 three-pointers and came up big down the stretch.
Butler added 17 points and two steals to go with that deflected pass for Chicago.
The Cavaliers got 19 points and seven assists from Mo Williams, filling in while Kyrie Irving recovers from a fractured left kneecap. Kevin Love added 18 points and eight rebounds.
The Cavaliers took an 8382 lead on a floater by James with 5:32 left in the game.
Mirotic immediately converted a three-point play after getting fouled by Tristan Thompson on a baseline floater. That started an 11-2 run that put Chicago back on top 93-85 with 2:42 left.
But just when it looked like the lead was safe, the Cavaliers came roaring back again.
Love nailed back-to-back three-pointers to make it 9795 with 33 seconds remaining. After a miss by Rose with 10 seconds remaining, a driving James got stuffed by Gasol.
The ball bounced out along the baseline, and Butler broke up the inbounds, preserving a tight victory for Chicago.
PISTONS 106, HAWKS 94
ATLANTA — Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 21 points to lead all five Detroit starters in double figures, carrying the Pistons to a surprising victory over the Atlanta Hawks and ruining the home opener of the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference last season.
The Pistons, who haven’t had a winning season since 2008 and finished 28 games behind the Hawks a year ago, began to pull away just before halftime. They led by double figures through most of the final two quarters and held on despite missing 20 of their last 22 shots from the field.
Andre Drummond had 19 rebounds and 18 points for the Pistons. Marcus Morris also had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Ersan Ilyasova chipped in with 16 points and Reggie Jackson added 15.
Atlanta was looking to build on last season’s franchise-best record of 60-22 and run to the conference final. Instead, the Hawks picked up where they left off in a sweep by the Cleveland Cavaliers, losing again in familiar fashion.
The Pistons had a commanding 5940 edge on the boards, again exposing the biggest issue to plague the Hawks last season.
Atlanta acquired 6-foot-11 Tiago Splitter from San Antonio but it made no immediate difference for one of the NBA’s worst rebounding teams.
Detroit won despite shooting just 38.5 percent (37 of 96).
Dennis Schroder led the Hawks with 20 points. Paul Millsap had 19 and Jeff Teague 18, but new starter Kent Bazemore — who stepped in at small forward after DeMarre Carroll left in free agency — was held scoreless.