Cavaliers fall apart in second half, lose to Bulls 99-93

The Chicago Bulls use a huge 37-point third quarter to sweep the season series and hand the Cavs their fifth loss in last seven games, 99-93 in Chicago.

Cavs were playing well in the first half, as they were up by as many as 11 points, and had a 50-41 advantage at halftime.

The Bulls turned it around in the third quarter as they outscored the Cavs, 37-21 mainly due to poor defense and turnovers. Also, rebounding killed the Cavs as the Bulls had 21 offensive rebounds/second chance points.

James scored 26 points to go with 10 rebounds and eight assists. A free throw with 4:28 left in the fourth quarter moved him past former teammate Shaquille O'Neal and into seventh place on the NBA's career scoring list.

Kyrie Irving added 20 points and shot 7-of-20. J.R. Smith was better than he's been, scoring 12 points on four 3s. Tristan Thompson was strong with 15 points and nine boards.

Kevin Love had a rough night. He finished with eight points and 10 boards on 3-of-10 shooting, and fouled out.

Their third consecutive loss dropped them a half-game behind Boston for the Eastern Conference lead and left them with a 6-10 record in March.

"We've been going through some ups and downs as of late, but still confident we're the best team right now and we just gotta start playing like that," Lue said.

The Bulls (36-39) finished 4-0 against Cleveland to complete their first sweep of the Cavaliers since they took all three games during the 2011-12 season.

Nikola Mirotic tied a season high with 28 points for the Bulls. Butler added 25. Rajon Rondo finished with seven points, nine boards and 15 assists and Robin Lopez chipped in 10 points and 11 rebounds.

COMING UP FOR THE CAVS: The Cleveland Cavaliers start a three-game homestand tomorrow when the Philadelphia 76ers (28-47) visit the Q.