CHICAGO — Forward Nikola Mirotic scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and the Chicago Bulls held on for a 97-95 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night in the season opener for both teams.
Bulls guard Derrick Rose added 18 points and five assists as Chicago’s Fred Hoiberg won his NBA coaching debut five months after the team dismissed Tom Thibodeau.
Forward LeBron James led Cleveland with 25 points and 10 rebounds in 36 minutes. Forward Kevin Love tallied 18 points and eight rebounds in his first game since dislocating his left shoulder in April.
President Barack Obama watched the game from a front-row seat. Obama abandoned his standard suit and tie for a casual dress shirt, and he cheered after several aggressive drives to the rim by Rose.
The Cavaliers pulled within 97-95 in the game’s final seconds. James drove to the paint in an attempt to even the score, but Bulls forward Pau Gasol swatted James’ layup attempt out of bounds.
Pistons 106, Hawks 94
ATLANTA — Atlanta had no answer for Andre Drummond inside or Kentavious Caldwell-Pope outside as Detroit got its season off to a winning start.
Drummond had 18 points and 19 rebounds, while Caldwell-Pope hit four 3-pointers en route to scoring 21 points as the Pistons defeated the Hawks in the opener for both teams.
Marcus Morris scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Ersan Ilyasova added 16 points. Both were making their Pistons debuts. Reggie Jackson contributed 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Detroit. Dennis Schroder came off the bench to lead the Hawks with 20 points. Paul Millsap had 19 points and eight rebounds, and Jeff Teague scored 18 points.