Gooden and LeBron lead Cavs over Bulls

James, who was heavily criticized for leaving the floor during the final seconds of the Cavaliers’ 104-95 loss to Atlanta on Tuesday, again left the court before the game was completed. However, this time he left because the outcome was decided well before the completion of the fourth quarter.

Aleksandar Pavlovic scored 16 points, while Donyell Marshall and Anderson Varejao each added 15 for Cleveland, which swept the four-game series with Chicago last season.

Kirk Hinrich scored 20 points and dished out 11 assists for the Bulls, who have lost six straight and 11 of their last 13 trips to Cleveland. Andres Nocioni scored 15 points off the bench, while P.J. Brown and Luol Deng each had 11.

Ben Gordon had a rough game for Chicago, going just 1-for-10 from the field for two points.

Cleveland jumped all over Chicago in the first quarter and held the Bulls at arm’s length the rest of the way to coast to victory.

Down by three midway through the opening period, Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ tip-in basket ignited an 11-2 spurt and James’ three-point play capped the run to make it 17-11 with 4:33 left in the quarter.

Then, as time expired in the first period, James converted another three-point play and Damon Jones nailed a three-pointer that gave the Cavs a 30-18 lead after 12 minutes.

Cleveland took a 52-39 lead into the break and the Bulls managed to pull within nine late in the third quarter on Thabo Sefolosha’s layup with 11 seconds left.

However, Marshall connected on a three-pointer with less than one second remaining to make it 80-68 going into the final quarter.

Game Notes

Ben Wallace finished with two points and five rebounds for the Bulls...Ilgauskas had eight points and nine boards for Cleveland...The Cavs shot 57 percent from the floor, while Chicago shot 44 percent.