Chicago ? Ben Gordon and his young teammates showed some potential on Wednesday night. The rookie guard hopes they display it more often.
Gordon scored 21 points and Eddy Curry had 20 to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 113-85 lopsided victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“We are a young team. Hopefully, we can grow and get experience in these games and be able to be more consistent on a regular basis,” Gordon said.
Tyson Chandler added 15 points and nine rebounds for Chicago, which snapped a three-game losing streak and ended Cleveland’s three-game winning streak.
LeBron James scored 19 points on 5-of-15 shooting, and Cleveland shot just 36.3 percent overall.
Playing their second game in as many nights, the Cavaliers were never in the game. They trailed by double-digits the entire second half and the Bulls’ reserves outscored Cleveland’s 58-26.
“Start to finish, I thought that was our best game,” Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. “I thought our defense was very, very good. We did a great job on LeBron.”
James watched most of the fourth quarter from the bench as the Bulls added to their lead. Cleveland coach Paul Silas pulled James with 7:23 left in the game.
“It was like slow-motion out there tonight,” Silas said. “I take nothing away from the Bulls. They played an excellent game tonight. To be young and upcoming, they did what they had to do. They jumped on us and stayed on us.”
Gordon finished an alley-oop pass from Frank Williams with a thunderous dunk to increase Chicago’s lead to 109-76 with 2:55 remaining.
“Every great team in the league has one of these nights. This was ours,” James said. “We had a tough game last night at home and then flew here. They had more energy.”
Chicago led 27-21 after the first quarter and added to their lead by outscoring Cleveland 13-4 to start the second quarter. Chandler extended Chicago’s lead with a jumper to make it 40-25. Gordon had seven points during the span, and 12 in the quarter.
James played 46 minutes in Cleveland’s 103-97 victory over the Nets on Tuesday night.
“We know we have to come out and try to wear them down. That’s what teams do to us when we have back-to-back games,” Gordon said.
James led Cleveland with 12 points in the first half on 3-of-10 shooting, he scored 11 in the first quarter. The Bulls shot 51.5 percent in the first half and led 54-44. They led by as many as 17.
Chris Duhon hit a 3 and Chandler dunked to increase Chicago’s lead to 65-48. Chandler converted a three-point play to put the Bulls up 74-54 with 3:28 left in the third quarter.
Kirk Hinrich and Andres Nocioni each scored 15 points for Chicago.
Jeff McInnis finished with 15 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 13 points and seven rebounds for Cleveland.
Notes: Cavaliers forward Robert Traylor will be sidelined three to four weeks after breaking his left pinkie during a game against New Jersey. Traylor, a reserve averaging 5.1 points and 4.0 rebounds, was placed on the injured list before the game. Before the game, Cleveland activated forward Scott Williams. … James had a nice block on Hinrich’s breakaway layup attempt at the end of the third quarter. … All three of Chicago’s wins have come on Wednesdays. … The Bulls led the entire game for the first time since a 115-106 victory over the 76ers on April 15, 2003.
