NBA: LeBron James finishes Bulls’ winning streak – DeRozan with new career high

The Chicago Bulls series is over. After seven victories in a row, the Bulls have to bow to the Cleveland Cavaliers around LeBron James. Meanwhile, DeMar DeRozan scores a new career high in the comeback victory of the Toronto Raptors in Philadelphia. Memphis also loses in Phoenix.

Mirotic bulls are beat. After seven victories at a stretch, Chicago suffered another defeat, but the Hoiberg team doesn’t have to worry about it. After all, on the other side of the court was a certain LeBron James, who continues to play one of the best seasons of his career.

34 points (12/23 FG) and 9 assists the king contributed to the victory and was once again the outstanding man. The Bulls were in excellent shape again. 26 times the lead changed, only in the last five minutes the Cavs finally took control. A turnaround jumper from James a minute before the end (113:107) put the cavs in a comfortable position, but Nikola Mirotic’s threesome and Denzel Valentine’s layout put Chicago back into striking distance.

LeBron was fouled and turned two free throws in 11 seconds on the clock. Kris Dunn and Valentine then missed a possible extension from downtown. They were really good today,”said Kevin Love (27 points, 7 rebounds),” Their last few games were great and you can see that they are now available to almost all the players.”

The Bulls were particularly pleased with Lauri Markkanen’s game. The Finn presented the Cavs with big problems and finished the game with 25 points (11/17 FG). Dunn also got 14 assists. Paul Zipser played 9 minutes and scored 5 points (2/4 FG). Cleveland, on the other hand, was once again able to rely on the strong bank. Dwyane Wade (10), Kyle Korver (15) and Jeff Green (10) delivered important production again.

And two more side notes from the bank. Isaiah Thomas was on the game report sheet again and also took a few leagues with the team while warming up. He won’t be fit for the Christmas Games, but IT could make his debut for the Cavs in the new year. Coach Ty Lue was missing due to illness, coach Larry Drew coached assistant coach for him.

It didn’t look good around the Raptors in the middle of the third quarter. Philly was already leading 76:54, but then Toronto coach Dwane Casey made some changes to his lineup and they worked. He took out Jonas Valanciunas and brought in Delon Wright, a guard who was supposed to take care of Ben Simmons, who had previously been outstanding. The much smaller Wright cut a good figure, especially in the post office against the Australian, and from this point on, the Sixers’ attack broke out.

Toronto did not have such a problem in the attack, because they could rely on the traditionally strong backcourt. While Kyle Lowry (23) played solidly in his homeland, DeMar DeRozan made the best game of his career. 45 points (13/21 FG) meant a new career high for the Shooting Guard. Especially: DeRozan, not a real shooter, ran hot from the three-line and pocketed six of nine distance throws.

“I thought he was the young Ray Allen,”said his coach.”That’s exactly what we need. It opens the court, especially in games like them, where we were in a deep hole at first,” because at halftime only the hosts played. Especially Simmons (20 points, 6 rebounds) and Robert Covington (19.5/12 threesomes) could not be stopped at first, even though Joel Embiid was missing again because of a pinching back.

So the sixers ended up missing the grains. DeRozan scored five points from the line one minute before the end, and scored six seconds from the end when he scored another two freebies – the decision.

With Philly Dario Saric (18 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists) scratched on a triple double, Richaun Holmes (15) from the bank made a good game. For Toronto, Jakob Pöltl delivered a good 20 minutes in which he scored 8 points (4/5 FG), 6 rebounds and 2 steals.

Page 1: LeBron ends Bulls series – DeRozan with Career High

Page 2: Daniels fires Memphis –