Joakim Noah had to go back for one more look.Walking slowly across the confetti-littered court, Noah stopped at the spot just outside the arc where LeBron James had pulled up in his face and made a 3-pointer.
"That's a long way," Noah said, shaking his head in disbelief as he looked at the distant rim. "You've got to be kidding me."
The Chicago Bulls kept daring James to shoot jumpers.
He obliged.
"They were telling me I can't make jump shots," James said. "They asked me to shoot a jumper so I did that. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again."
James scored 40 points -- 15 in a tour-de-force fourth quarter -- as the Cavaliers, fueled by a rabid home crowd that booed every move by Noah, maintained home-court advantage by beating the Bulls 112-102 on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
James added eight rebounds and eight assists for the Cavs, who led 96-93 with 4:30 left before the league's soon-to-be-two-time MVP took over. He hit his 3 with the 6-foot-11 Noah coming at him and followed with a quick dance move and wink directed at Chicago's talkative bench.
James then made two free throws, a layup and two jumpers, scoring 11 straight points as Cleveland opened a 107-98 lead with 1:36 left.
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