Cavaliers avoid season sweep against Bulls

The Cleveland Cavaliers avoided losing all four games in their season series against the Chicago Bulls with a 104-101 win Sunday

The Cleveland Cavaliers were led by dual 18 point efforts from Alec Burks and Jordan Clarkson to defeat the Chicago Bulls Sunday afternoon. Burks went 6-13 from the field with eight rebounds and two assists while Clarkson put together an efficient 8-11 outing adding seven rebounds and six assists in the process.

Cedi Osman scored a fairly inefficient 17 points. Osman was 6-17 overall including 2-8 from deep. This was a bit of a come down to earth game for Osman. Osman made 19 of 31 shots in this past two games scoring 54 points overall. Inconsistency has been the story for Osman this season and it appears this trend will continue for the foreseeable future.

Other notable scoring efforts came from Matthew Dellavedova and Rodney Hood, chipping in 16 and 14 points respectively. Ante Zizic grabbed 14 rebounds but was a disappointment shooting the ball. Zizic only managed to make four of 11 attempts for eight points. Zizic is not great shooting the ball and Chicago’s Robin Lopez defended him well throughout the contest.

Collin Sexton continued to struggle against the Bulls. The Cavaliers rookie went 3-10 from the field and made one of his two three-point attempts. Sexton is prone to taking mid-range shots and missed all three attempts at or around the free throw line. Shooting close to the basket was not that much better as Sexton missed three layups. Sexton needs to start converting more frequently and in time he should.

Cavaliers notes

Tristan Thompson remains sidelined for at least two more weeks. There is speculation that his time away from the court may extend until the All-Star break is over.

Kevin Love is participating in practice and taking shots before games. The unfortunate news is that there is not a concrete timetable for his return. Although with developments such as practicing and shooting before games his return seems to be fast approaching.

David Nwaba is still out and has not appeared in a game since December 23rd. Similar to his teammates he does not have a timeline for his return. At this point it is best to allow Nwaba to heal and let others play to get experience.

The Cavaliers next game is at home hosting the Washington Wizards at 7 P.M.