Bulls, Jimmy Butler Hand Cavaliers 3rd Straight Loss, Complete Season Sweep

The Cleveland Cavaliers' spring slide continued Thursday night as they lost 99-93 on the road to the Chicago Bulls at the United Center.

Jimmy Butler had 25 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Nikola Mirotic was the game's leading scorer (28 points). Mirotic shot 9-of-14 from the field, including 6-of-11 from three-point range.

The NBA shared a replay of the third-year forward hitting a three-pointer to give the Bulls a 70-68 lead with two minutes, 19 seconds left in the third quarter:

Mirotic added 10 rebounds to his night to finish with a double-double.

Rajon Rondo also had a nice game, dishing out 15 assists and grabbing nine boards.

LeBron James was one of the Cavs' few bright spots, scoring 26 points. In addition, he surpassed Shaquille O'Neal for seventh on the all-time scoring list, per the NBA:

Kevin Love fouled out after posting eight points and 10 rebounds, while Kyrie Irving was 7-of-20 for 20 points.

The Cavs now own a three-game losing streak, and they're 6-10 in March. After briefly reclaiming a share of first place in the Eastern Conference, Cleveland falls behind the Boston Celtics by a half-game in the standings.

Through the first two quarters, the Cavs were riding high. They led 50-41 at the half, and while their offense wasn't hitting on all cylinders, they showed nice improvement on the defensive end compared to recent performances.

Cleveland undid that progress with a disastrous third quarter in which Chicago outscored the Cavs 37-21. ESPN Stats & Info showed how great ball movement was critical to the Bulls' scoring outburst:

NBA on TNT shared a replay of one of Rondo's eight assists in the quarter. He found Butler for an alley-oop to bring the Bulls to within five points, 55-50:

David Zavac of SB Nation's Fear the Sword thought the Cavs made Chicago's offense look far better than it has otherwise been this year:

Cleveland mounted a late comeback, trimming the deficit to five points, 95-90, following a bucket from Tristan Thompson with 1:02 remaining in the fourth quarter. James could've made it a two-point game with 35 seconds left, but his three-point attempt rimmed out.

That was the Cavaliers' last chance to get back into the contest, as the Bulls sealed the victory at the foul line.

Cleveland can't dwell on the defeat for too long. It heads home to take on the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night for the first of a three-game homestand.

The Athletic Chicago's Sean Highkin isn't hitting the panic button just yet for the Cavs, but he sees some concerning signs:

The Bulls remain a game out of the eighth seed in the East with Thursday's win. They play the Atlanta Hawks at home Saturday before hitting the road and playing the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.

With an easy slate of games ahead, Chicago has a great chance of chasing down the Indiana Pacers and setting up a potential first-round series with the Cavs in the playoffs.

Postgame Reaction

NBA on TNT shared Butler's comments with TNT's Lewis Johnson after the win:

James and Irving didn't overstate what Thursday's defeat meant but acknowledged the Cavs are in a funk.

"[We're] just in a bad spot right now," James said, per Highkin. "I'm not disappointed with the effort. Just in a bad spot. We need to figure it out."

"It's ugly right now," Irving said, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. "It's real, real ugly. But we'll get out of this; we'll be fine."