Hughes leads Bulls past Cavs, 101-98

LeBron James scored 33 points.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Ben Gordon made five clutch free throws down the stretch and Larry Hughes scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half against his former team, rallying the Chicago Bulls to a 101-98 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers Thursday night.

The Bulls, with nothing to play for in the season’s final weeks, came back from 17 points down in the second half to snap a six-game road losing streak.

Hughes, traded by the Cavaliers to Chicago at the Feb. 21 deadline, added nine assists and eight rebounds. Gordon scored 24 points and Luol Deng and Andres Nocioni had 15 each.

LeBron James scored 33 for Cleveland, but with the Cavaliers trailing 99-98, the NBA’s leading scorer was short on a driving layup with 5.9 seconds left. Gordon was fouled and made two free throws with 3.4 seconds remaining to put the Bulls ahead by three.

Cleveland had one last chance, but after catching a pass from James, Daniel Gibson missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer before the horn.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 23 points for the Cavaliers, who are trying to nail down the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Trailing since early in the second quarter, the Bulls finally caught the Cavs and took the lead with 1:42 left when Gordon knocked down three free throws after being fouled by Delonte West while attempting a 3-pointer.

Gordon’s free throws came shortly after Cavs center Ben Wallace blew a wide-open dunk. As the ball clanged off the iron, a loud gong inadvertently sounded in the arena, usually a sound effect reserved for one of Big Ben’s blocks.

The Cavs had other chances in the final minutes, but Wally Szczerbiak missed a jumper in the final minute and James couldn’t drop his drive down the lane with rookie Joakim Noah defending him.

Cavs coach Mike Brown thought James was fouled by Noah on the play, and after the game he asked referee Danny Crawford to take another look at the play on video.

James, who fouled out of Thursday’s win at Charlotte, was bothered by back spasms early in the fourth quarter. He winced in obvious pain when he walked to the bench for a timeout with 5:22 left, and instead of sitting in a chair he knelt as Brown discussed strategy with his team.

James scored just one point and went 0-for-5 in the fourth as his back tightened up.

Leading by 10 at half, Cleveland was poised to put the Bulls away in the third, building a 17-point lead on a jumper by James.

But Hughes wasn’t going to let his former team embarrass his new one. He scored 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and added four assists in the third quarter.