CLEVELAND - Next Gen goes to Cleveland to battle the 2016 Cavaliers. We'll see if they can defeat another 70-win team, the OG 1996 Bulls.
https://youtu.be/t30vYYtRYIg
The first quarter was a defensive quarter for the Bulls as they held CLeveland to 39% shooting, and led 25-19 at the end of the 1st. (15:45) The Cavs continued to struggle offensively and fell behind by double digits early. But as Jordan went to the bench, the Bulls offense also stagnated and Cavs got to within 5. Jordan came back from his usual rest to wake the Bulls up from their offensive slumber, and would bring the lead back to double digits with a spectaculat poster dunk over Tristan THompson (25:06). Kyrie Irving went on a tear though, scoring 17 2nd quarter points and led the Cavs back to within 1 pt. Jordan matched him offensively, however. Shumpert and JR Smith some 3-pointers and narrowed the gap as well.
Chicago lead is 3, 53-50 at the half. It was a Kyrie-Jordan showdown. Kyrie had 22, Jordan 27.
The Bulls started the third quarter (33:49) on an 12-2 run, as they pushed the tempo. Cavs were missing some makeable shots too. THey were up by double digits for most of the quarter, was up by 13, until Lebron (48:27) made a driving dunk on Toni Kukoc with 1 sec to go to narrow the lead somewhat to 11, 80-69 going into the final quarter.
The Cavs scored the first 5 pts of the 4th quarter (49:17), and was hitting from outside. JR Smith got into one of his shooting streaks, scoring 13 pts in the period, THe Cavs evened the score with 7 minutes to go. Cavs continued to double Jordan, but MJ's teammates were able to hit their shots. Still it remained close in the final minutes, and the Cavs (1:00:13) tied the game once again at 98 with 3 mins to go after a 3-pointer from LeBron. Cleveland (1:01:07) had a chance to go up by 3, but Kyrie missed a 3-pointer. On the next possession, Ron Harper hit probably the biggest shot of the game with a 3-pointer off a Jordan double team to give them a 101-98 advantage.
The last few possessions came down to execution and who would hit their shots. Both teams missed some makeable shots which could have turned the tide either way. Ultimately, Michael Jordan would give the final blow (1

06), with a baseline drive off a double team to give the Bulls a 5-pt lead with 16 secs to go. JR would hit a 3 next, but then Jordan made 1/2 FTs, keeping the lead at 3. The Cavs would have the last chance to tie it, but LeBron would miss a 3-pointer at the top of the key, with a challenge my Jordan, and the Bulls hang on to win 108-103.
Jordan finished with game with 42 pts, 6 rebs, 13 assts, 3 stls. Pippen added 22-8-6.
Kyrie tried to match MJ with 37 pts of his own and 8 assts. JR had 21. LeBron had a very disappointing game, with 11 pts 3 rebs on 5/11 shooting.








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