Harden’s 36 and a late dagger hold off Bulls’ furious final push

James Harden spends most of the night turning Chicago’s defense into a highlight reel, and when the Bulls finally threaten to rip the game open in the fourth, he answers with the kind of shot that stops a comeback in its tracks. Cleveland leaves the United Center with a 115-110 win in a game that looked over early, then became a stress test all the way to the final horn.

The Cavs come out scorching. Chicago opens the game by grabbing a brief 2-0 lead, and then Cleveland detonates on a 21-0 style swing that never really lets the Bulls breathe. Jaylon Tyson starts it with the kind of aggressive finishing that sets the tone, and then Harden gets hot from deep — the key run includes a 26-foot three from Harden and Tyson finishing at the rim off a Dennis Schröder assist. By the time Cleveland strings together a 13-point burst, the scoreboard has flipped from a manageable 11-2 Chicago start to a 14-11 Cleveland lead, and the visitors keep piling on. The first quarter ends 32-22, the halftime margin is 61-45, and by the end of the third Cleveland has pushed it to 93-73. The biggest lead reaches 29, and for long stretches the Cavs look like they might cruise.

Harden is the engine, but Evan Mobley is the stabilizer. Harden pours in 36 points with seven threes, seven rebounds and nine assists, mixing stepbacks, pull-ups and drive-and-kick creation all night. Mobley matches the physicality Chicago tries to bring, finishing with 26 points and 14 rebounds on 63% shooting, and his cut at the two-minute mark of the fourth quarter — a dunk set up by Harden for a 110-105 Cleveland edge — feels like the kind of play that should finish the game. Jaylon Tyson gives Cleveland a jolt too, posting 18 points and 11 rebounds in just 23 minutes, with his activity in the opening surge helping the Cavs seize control early.

But Chicago does not fold. Josh Giddey turns the game into a passing clinic, racking up 19 assists and repeatedly finding open teammates as the Bulls chip away. The home run starts in the third, when a 12-0 Chicago push trims the deficit from 93-64 to 93-75 behind Giddey’s driving floater. Then the fourth quarter turns into a real chase. Matas Buzelis comes up with a steal at 3:38, and suddenly the Bulls have life. Sam Merrill answers with a deep 27-footer to keep Cleveland in front at 106-102, but Chicago keeps poking. Kevin Ellis runs the floor for a dunk. Guerschon Yabusele buries a corner three to make it 108-105, and then another Yabusele run-out layup at the end of the game keeps the pressure on.

The closing sequence is pure late-game tension. Harden drills an 18-foot pull-up with 32.5 seconds left to make it 112-107, a shot that feels like the exhale Cleveland needed. Chicago still swings, and Buzelis launches from absurd distance twice in the final seconds — first from 44 feet, then from 43 at the horn — but the second splash only trims the final margin to 115-110 after the outcome is already decided. It’s a near-miracle finish to a game that was once a blowout, but Cleveland had done enough work early and had enough from its stars late to survive the storm.

For Chicago, the takeaway is the fight and the playmaking. Tre Jones scores 20, Buzelis finishes with 16, and the Bulls show real juice in the comeback attempt. For Cleveland, this is the kind of road win that matters in the standings and in the locker room: you can control a game for 40 minutes, then still have to answer when the opponent lands punches late. The Cavs get the win, Harden gets another star-level performance, and Chicago is left with a comeback that came just a couple possessions short.