A few minutes earlier, James danced on the sideline in front of the Cavs bench while the ball was in play.

"It's frustrating to lose the way we've been losing lately. That's really it," Noah said. "When you're losing the way that you're losing and guys are just rubbing it in your face and dancing and all that... I have a lot of respect for LeBron. It's just a frustrating situation."

James insisted he meant no offense. The Cavaliers just like to have fun when they play well.

Tough as it's been for the Bulls, it should be noted that all six of those losses came on the road to teams with some of NBA's the best records -- the Lakers, Denver, Portland, Utah and Milwaukee were the earlier defeats.

Now the Bulls (7-10) get to spend some long-awaited time at home, where they'll play 14 of their next 19 contests. Through Friday, the Bulls had played just six home games -- tied with Phoenix for the league low. On Saturday, the Bulls will play their first set of back-to-back games since Nov. 10-11 when they host the struggling Toronto Raptors.

The most recent set of back-to-backs ended with a 99-89 loss at Toronto, a game in which the Bulls led for most of the first three quarters, then were outscored 22-11 in the fourth.

The Raptors made significant changes during the summer and spent money to sign free agent forward Hedo Turkoglu away from Orlando. But even while forward Chris Bosh is averaging 24.1 points and 12 rebounds, Toronto is off to an 8-13 start. The Raptors' defense is among the league's worst, giving up 111 points per game.

CAVALIERS 101, BULLS 87: The Bulls played well for about 28 minutes on Friday, then started missing every shot and fell hopelessly behind. Cleveland rolled to an easy 101-87 victory at Quicken Loans Arena and the only late-game drama was a verbal confrontation between Cavs star LeBron James and Bulls center Joakim Noah while James shot a free throw and Noah sat on the bench. James was given a technical foul, but nothing came of the incident.

The Bulls led 54-52 with eight minutes left in the third quarter, then missed 12 of their next 13 shots while the Cavs sprinted to a 21-4 run. The Bulls finished with a whopping 46-20 disadvantage in points in the paint. Rookie forward Taj Gibson led the Bulls with both 14 points and 13 rebounds. James scored 23 for the Cavs, who avenged a Nov. 5 home loss to the Bulls.