On Saturday night, the Chicago Bulls travel to Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse for a road tilt with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Bulls lost 116-105 to the Brooklyn Nets Thursday. The Cavaliers are in action Friday and will be on the second leg of a back-to-back. The tip is slated for 8:10 PM ET. Cleveland opens as a home favorite.

Bulls Lose on the Road
The Chicago Bulls dropped their second straight game, a 116-105 loss to the Brooklyn Nets. Zach LaVine scored 38 points and DeMar DeRozan had 14. Brooklyn was playing short-handed after trading away Kevin Durant and T.J. Warren, but the Bulls looked a step slow in the second half after a good start. LaVine scored 12 in the first quarter, and the Bulls used a 16-2 run to build a 13-point advantage early in the second.
They were outscored 37-21 in an awful fourth quarter. DeRozan (right-hip soreness) returned after missing Chicago’s game in Memphis on Tuesday.

”Every single day that goes by we have less opportunity to take on this challenge,” DeRozan said to Associated Press reporters after the game. ”The room for error is getting slimmer and slimmer. It’s on us to realize it.”

The Bulls were one of just two teams that did not make a trade before Thursday’s 3 p.m. deadline. There were a ton of rumors swirling around that they may move either DeRozan or LaVine, but nothing materialized. They are 26-29 entering this matchup with the Cavaliers and in danger of falling deeper in a very competitive Eastern Conference.

Cavaliers on Back to Back
The Cavaliers are in action Friday evening against the New Orleans Pelicans and will be on the second leg of a back-to-back. Two nights prior, they put a beating on the hapless Detroit Pistons, rolling to a 113-85 win. Jarrett Allen scored 20 points and Evan Mobley added 19 as they pummeled them in the paint from the start considering they were missing their two dynamic guards.
All-Star starter Donovan Mitchell (groin) and Darius Garland (thumb) got the night off to heal some injuries and the Cavs barely missed their top guards, who average a combined 48.8 points. With Allen and Mobley doing work in the post and combining for 21 points, Cleveland built an 18-point lead after one quarter and the game was essentially over. They out-rebounded Detroit 48-32.

”Jarrett did a great job of setting the tone,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. ”There was a bunch of extra-effort plays that he made where he was just outworking the guy in front of him. He was able to get offensive rebounds, his teammates were finding him in the paint. ”And the same thing with Evan. They had opportunities to attack and were extremely aggressive.”

Entering play Friday, they are 35-22.