Obama watches Bulls squeak by Blatt’s Cavs 97-95
Israeli American coach and star forward LeBron James fall to Chicago in NBA season opener

For all the talk about their fast-paced offense, defense once again lifted the Chicago Bulls in their season opener.
Pau Gasol’s block of LeBron James and a pass deflection in the closing seconds helped preserve the win for new coach Fred Hoiberg. And that had to please the Bulls’ fan-in-chief, President Barack Obama.
Obama was on hand to watch Nikola Mirotic score 19 points and Derrick Rose add 18 to lead the Bulls to a 97-95 victory over the David Blatt-coached Cleveland Cavaliers in Chicago Tuesday night.
After Gasol blocked James’ potential tying layup in the closing seconds, Jimmy Butler then broke up an inbounds pass intended for James as time expired.
Obama sat courtside for most of the game as his beloved Bulls got contributions from a variety of players to knock off the defending Eastern Conference champions and give Hoiberg a narrow win in his first game.
“That is how we are going to win every game,” Rose said. “It kind of feels good going into every game knowing you have the possibility of winning. You have a chance of winning every game because we are so good and deep.”
James scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, but the Cavaliers came up short against the team they knocked out in the conference semifinals last season.
The Bulls, playing a more open offense with Hoiberg than they did under Tom Thibodeau, did not exactly light it up. But they came away with a promising win.
Rose, playing with a mask to protect his fractured left orbital, shot just 8 of 22 after missing almost the entire preseason.
Mirotic, starting over Joakim Noah, nailed three 3-pointers.
Butler added 17 points and two steals to go with that deflected pass. Gasol blocked six shots.

The Cavaliers got 19 points and seven assists from Mo Williams, filling in while Kyrie Irving recovers from a fractured left kneecap. Kevin Love added 18 points and eight rebounds.
“We gave ourselves a chance to win,” James said. “That’s all you can ask.”
The Cavaliers took an 83-82 lead on a floater by James with 5:32 left in the game.

Mirotic immediately converted a three-point play after getting fouled by Tristan Thompson on a baseline floater. That started an 11-2 run that put Chicago back on top 93-85 with 2:42 left.
But just when it looked like the lead was safe, the Cavaliers came roaring back again.
Love nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 97-95 with 33 seconds remaining. After a miss by Rose with 10 seconds remaining, a driving James got swatted by Gasol.
The ball bounced out along the baseline. The Bulls had no doubt this time that James was getting the final shot.
They probably thought the same thing at the end of Game 4 of the conference semifinals in Chicago. In that one, Blatt designed a play that had James taking the ball out. He vetoed it and drained a corner jumper at the buzzer to give Cleveland the victory.
Things didn’t turn out so well this time for the Cavaliers. Butler broke up Williams’ inbound pass.

Israeli-American Blatt, who coached Maccabi Tel Aviv and teams in Russia to championships before joining the Cavs last year and nearly bringing Cleveland its first major title in 50 years, told ESPN that he had adjusted to the NBA’s style of play since last year.
“I do feel a lot better, I feel a lot more comfortable,” Blatt said in an interview published before the game. “What I went through last year, I don’t know if anyone has ever done it before. And I made my share of mistakes. I went through my share of trials and tribulations. I grew from it. I learned from it. I came through it, I think.”
“I coached numerous places, but they were very different places than the world of the NBA in almost every respect. Man, it was tough. It was tough. Like I said, sometimes I handled it better, sometimes I handled it worse, but I think I’m the wiser for it and I’m definitely more comfortable for it,” he added.
Obama, in his hometown to speak to the International Association of Chief of Police and attend a Democratic fundraiser, had not sat courtside to watch the Bulls since they visited the Washington Wizards in February 2009.

But with his favorite team taking on the best player on the planet in a rematch of last season’s second round, Obama decided to take in this game.
Secret Service agents started blanketing the United Center in the morning and all eyes turned toward the tunnel as Obama entered the arena late in the first quarter. He greeted some people at courtside as he made his way to his seat opposite the scorer’s table.
“I think it’s very promising,” Obama told TNT. “You’ve got a new coach, he’s opening up the offense a little bit. The question is going to be can they hang on to the defense, with the new offense?”