CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Cavaliers pushed the Chicago Bulls on the brink of playoffs elimination on Tuesday night by scoring a heart-stopping Game 5 victory at the Quicken Loans Arena.
LeBron James flirted with a triple-double with 38 points 12 rebounds and 6 assists as the No.2 seeded Cavs snatched a 3-2 series lead in their Eastern Conference semifinals over the No.3 ranked Chicago.
"No turnovers! That was the first stat I was looking at after the game. I was trying to be efficient for my teammates, and I was very efficient," James told reporters at his post-game press conference.
As deadly as the four-time MVP was, he needed a lot of help to stave off the gutsy Bulls.
Kyrie Irving, hobbled by knee tendinitis and a sore foot, soldiered through 25 points and 5 assists while Iman Shumpert tallied 13 points. J.R. Smith pitched in 12 for the Cavs, who shot 40 of 79 from the field (50.6 percent) and 8 of 24 (33.4 percent) from long distance.
After falling behind 92-75 with 8:47 left in the fourth quarter, the Bulls went on a 24-9 run to come to within 101-99 with still 1:17 to go. The Cavs, however, held on with three big free throws down the stretch,
Six Bulls scored in double figures with Jimmy Butler logging 29 and 9 rebounds. Mike Dunleavy had 19 and Derrick Rose, who struggled shooting just 7 of 24 shots, settled with 16. Taj Gibson, Joakim Noah and Nikola Mirotic each finished with 10 markers.
Game 6 is Thursday night (Friday AM in Manila) at the United Center in Chicago.
FASTBREAK. Bulls forward Taj Gibson was ejected at the 10:25 mark of the fourth quarter after being assessed with a flagrant 2 foul following an altercation with Cavs guard Matthew Dellavedova.
The ejection lit a fire on the Cavs, who went on to build a 17-point advantage.
Photo: Cavs All-Star Kyrie Irving braved through a sore foot and knee tendinitis to score 25 points and help Cleveland get past Chicago to take a 3-2 series lead in the playoffs series.
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