Fred Hoiberg's stint as the Chicago Bulls' head coach didn't start with a free-wheeling offensive explosion. It wasn't the gritty defense and grind-it-out mentality of the Tom Thibodeau era, either. If one game is any indication, the Bulls have found themselves a happy medium. 

And it's working out quite well.       

Nikola Mirotic scored a team-high 19 points, joining four other Bulls players in double figures, as Chicago held home court Tuesday with a 97-95 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in both teams' season opener.

Chicago led by as many as 13 points but had to clamp down on the final possession after a late Cleveland rally. Pau Gasol blocked a LeBron James layup attempt with three seconds remaining, and Jimmy Butler tipped away the Cavaliers' ensuing inbounds pass as time expired. 

Derrick Rose (18 points), Butler (17 points), Tony Snell (11 points) and E'Twaun Moore (11 points) were also in double figures. The Bulls shot 42.5 percent overall from the field and trailed only once after taking the lead for the first time with a little under five minutes remaining in the first quarter.

Cleveland, meanwhile, was held to 40.4 percent shooting as James' supporting cast had an up-and-down night. Kevin Love needed 17 shots to finish with 18 points, J.R. Smith was 3-of-10 from the field and Richard Jefferson was the only Cavs bench player who made at least half of his shots. It's worth noting, however, that a reserve-heavy unit went on an 11-0 run in the late third/early fourth quarter to get Cleveland back into the game.

This meme accurately depicted Cleveland's performance outside of LeBron:

While not quite a mirror image of James' herculean NBA Finals effort, too often he was left to single-handedly carry the offense.

The four-time MVP scored a game-high 25 points and added 10 rebounds, but it was clear he was playing at less than 100 percent. During long stretches of the second half, he was lying on his back on the sideline rather than sitting on the bench with teammates, ostensibly to rest his lingering back injury. James received an anti-inflammatory injection in his back Oct. 13 and only returned to full practice over the weekend, per Tom Withers of the Associated Press (via Yahoo Sports). 

"We're not going to put too much on the first game of the season," James said, per Withers. "We've put in a lot of work over the last few weeks, and you can only try to get healthy, work your habits, work your rhythm and our last few practices have been very good. But you don't put too much onus on if this will be the team that we'll be long-term tomorrow."

Matt Moore of CBS Sports isn't believing the public bluster from Cleveland:

James isn't the only Cavs player dealing with an injury. Kyrie Irving remains out for an undisclosed period as he recovers from knee surgery, Iman Shumpert is recovering from wrist surgery and Love was playing his first game since a shoulder injury prematurely ended his playoff run. Anderson Varejao (Achilles) and Timofey Mozgov (knee) are also working their way back from injuries.

Justin Rowan of Fear the Sword made a good point about Love:

Still, that mattered not to the Bulls, who are in the midst of their own transition period. Hoiberg, who led Iowa State to the NCAA tournament each of the last four seasons, was coaching in his first game after taking over for Thibodeau—one of the league's most respected tacticians. His most notable move of the preseason paid huge dividends Tuesday night, as Mirotic thrived in his new starting role.

The second-year Spaniard raced out of the gate to score 11 of his 19 points in the first quarter and knocked down three of Chicago's seven threes. Joakim Noah failed to score a point in his new bench role but added nine rebounds and four assists in 17 minutes. Gasol's 32 minutes were the most among the big-man rotation, but his six blocks were his lone contribution as he made just one of his seven shots. 

The Cauldron's Nate Duncan noted Gasol's struggles in pick-and-roll defense:

“It is a good problem to have when you have as many guys as we do to play,” Hoiberg said of his big rotation, per Sam Smith of NBA.com. “There’s got to be sacrifice. It’s hopefully going to keep us fresh as the season goes on, to have as many bodies as we do. It’ll be good for our guys. Instead of playing 35, 36 (minutes), if you’re playing 25, 26 and keep some legs fresh, I think that’s definitely possible.”

Hoiberg may have a plan in mind here given Chicago heads to Brooklyn to play the Nets on the second night of a back-to-back Wednesday. If Noah and Taj Gibson's minutes uptick while Gasol's and Mirotic's decline a bit, that might be a trend worth monitoring as the season progresses.

The Cavaliers are also on a back-to-back, as they'll be on the move to Memphis to play the Grizzlies. Losing is never an ideal outcome, but a regulation loss might be preferable to stretching themselves into overtime given the fragile state of the roster. The season is a marathon, not a sprint. Opening night magnifies things a bit, but the Cavs will be just fine in the long run.

Post-Game Reaction

Cavaliers play-by-play announcer Fred McLeod captured David Blatt's quote:

Steve Aschburner offered James' quote on Gasol's block: 

Butler spoke on the process that led to his game-saving deflection, per K.J. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: "We practice those late-game situations. Everyone knows who's going to get the ball. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time."

Hoiberg also complimented the defensive effort: "I was really happy with how we played with a defensive mindset. That's a high-powered offensive team."

Noah, whose status for Wednesday's game in Brooklyn is unclear due to a knee contusion, made the salient point regarding both teams: "This is definitely not the final product for both teams. Right now, we're just focused on improvement."

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.