The Cleveland Cavaliers scored a 107-98 victory against the Chicago Bulls on Monday night at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus. Ohio.
In what could be a preview of next season's Eastern Conference Finals, Derrick Rose shone for the Bulls as he erupted for 30 points, his best-scoring performance this offseason, but the Cavaliers were simply too much for the Bulls.
Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers as he cancelled out Rose's performance, finishing with 28 points on 10-for-19 shooting from the field, while also tallying seven assists, three rebounds and two steals.
Anderson Varejao also had an outstanding performance as he finished with 22 points and eight rebounds, while LeBron James had another all-around contribution, racking up 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
While it was just a preseason game, the two teams obviously took the opportunity to gauge their strengths against one another as they are the two squads who are tipped to dominate the Eastern Conference after the roster moves that they made this offseason.
The Cavaliers had the best offseason among the 30 NBA teams after acquiring LeBron James via free agency and Kevin Love via a blockbuster deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Cleveland also added Shawn Marion, Mike Miller, James Jones and Lou Amundson to improve their title chances.
The Bulls, on the other hand, bolstered their frontline with acquisition of Pau Gasol, while also adding young bloods in rookies Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic.
Before the game, James admitted that the Bulls should be considered as the better team at this point.
"They are a team that's much better than us right now just off chemistry," James said of the Bulls via ESPN. "They've been together for a while; we've got a long way to go."
James doesn't expect a smooth-sailing campaign in the upcoming season, saying that they will have to go through adversities to develop team chemistry.
"It has to happen. I know it is going to happen," James said. "A lot of guys don't see it, but I see it. That's the only way we're going to be able to grow. You don't define yourself during the good times, you define yourself through the bad times. That's for the players and the coaching staff, as well."
Complete box scores and video highlights of the Cavaliers-Bulls match are available on this link.
