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Deng, reserves help Bulls dispatch Cavaliers

Dec 31, 2006 - 7:37 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Luol Deng is showing no ill-effects from a severe fall on his surgically repaired wrist.

Deng scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed six rebounds as the Chicago Bulls posted a 103-92 comeback victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Ben Gordon scored 21 points and fellow reserve P.J. Brown added 13 and 10 rebounds for Chicago, which had 55 of its total points come from the bench.

"This is one of the reasons we are a pretty good team," Bulls reserve forward Malik Allen said. "Coach (Scott) Skiles is not afraid to use our entire bench. That means you have to play hard in practice and get your work in and be ready to play."

The Bulls trailed, 67-60, when Larry Hughes made a 16-foot jumper with 7:16 left in the third quarter. However, Chicago went on a 24-0 run over the next 9:50 to take a commanding 84-67 lead with 9 1/2 minutes left in the final period.

"It was a hard-fought win for us and an important game in our division," Skiles said. "Our bench came through for us with some big performances. You can probably say that Malik Allen won the game for us tonight. He turned the momentum around."

"We didn't do a good job dropping down and fighting them off, which was apparent in their big run," Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. "You can't have letdowns on defense like we had tonight."

Deng shot 15-of-19 from the field and posted his second strong game after spraining his right wrist on a flagrant foul by Miami's James Posey on Wednesday. It was the same appendage on which he had surgery during the 2004-05 season.

The third-year forward has scored 57 points on 26-of-35 shooting over the last two games for the Bulls, who improved to 12-0 at home against Eastern Conference opponents.

"Luol's play the last two games has been outstanding," Skiles said. "He has always been a good pro player, now I think he is starting to feel like he can be a consistent scorer every night."

LeBron James scored 33 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Cleveland, which shot 45 percent (39-of-86) and fell to 1-5 when allowing an opponent to reach the 100-point mark.

"They went on that big run in the third quarter and that killed us," James said. "I also missed two layups and a jumper that I normally make and that changed the momentum."

"LeBron's a great player and eventually made some tough shots in the second half, but overall, I think we did a good job on him," Deng said.