Bulls keep rolling

Rose, Gasol are too much for Cavaliers

Derrick Rose scored 25 points and Pau Gasol added 21, leading the visiting Chicago Bulls to a 99-92 victory over the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Monday night.

Looking like the MVP he was before being slowed by knee injuries, Rose helped the Bulls swipe home-court advantage from the Cavaliers, who were missing starters Kevin Love and J.R. Smith.

Jimmy Butler added 20 points and banked in a contested jumper with 30 seconds left as the Bulls closed it out.

Kyrie Irving scored 30 points and Lebron James added 19 and 15 rebounds for Cleveland, playing its first game since Love — one of the Cavs’ Big 3 — was lost for the remainder of the postseason with a shoulder injury.

The Cavaliers trailed by only four points in the final minutes, but they forced several three-point attempts and James missed a tough layup attempt with 51 seconds left.

Finally fully healed after dealing with injuries all season, the Bulls are peaking at the perfect time. Coming off a 54-point win over Milwaukee to wrap up its opening-round series, Chicago took control from the start, withstood a Cleveland comeback and buckled down on defense in the closing minutes to hand Cleveland just its second loss in 24 home games.

Clippers 117, Rockets 101: Blake Griffin had 26 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists for his second straight tripledouble to lift the Chris Paulless Los Angeles Clippers in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinal series.

Houston scored five straight points to cut the lead to one with about 71⁄ minutes

2 left. Matt Barnes got the Clippers going after that, making 2 three-pointers in a 12-0 run that made it 101-88 three minutes later, and the Clippers coasted to the victory.

Paul, who has a strained left hamstring, missed his first game of the season. But Jamal Crawford had 21 points and Barnes added 20 to help pick up the slack.