Cavaliers forward Brian Skinner had a pregame meeting with Coach John Lucas to discuss playing time. As for forward Jumaine Jones, Lucas figured that he must have had a meeting with his pastor.

``He's all prayed up,'' Lucas said of Jones, who banked in a ridiculous 3-pointer late in the third quarter that got the Cavs rolling again in a 102-84 win over the Chicago Bulls last night at Gund Arena.

After leading by 21 points in the second quarter, the Cavs watched the hapless Bulls cut the deficit to one midway through the third quarter. With the Cavs ahead 74-69 and the shot clock about to expire, Jones tossed in a 25-footer with 40 seconds left in the quarter.

Jones didn't even pretend that he called bank. He turned his palms up and shrugged to the crowd.

``I just wanted it to get it to the rim, and hopefully, someone would have gotten the offensive rebound,'' said Jones, who earned some good luck with a workmanlike 20-point, 12-rebound game. ``Luckily, it hit the rim. We definitely needed it.''

The shot gave the Cavs (10-14) momentum heading into the final quarter. Any designs the Bulls (4-19) had of making another comeback were squashed by Skinner.

Skinner, whose minutes have been cut since center Zydrunas Ilgauskas returned two weeks ago from a foot injury, brought his concerns to Lucas. What it came down to, as it always does, is that players earn minutes by producing.

Skinner produced plenty in the fourth quarter, when he had seven of his nine points, had three of his five rebounds and held Bulls forward Marcus Fizer, who previously had shot 5-of-12 for 13 points, to no points on 0-of-6 shooting. Skinner played the game's final 15 minutes.

``When it's my time to be called, I'm going to make sure I'm ready,'' Skinner said. ``I think I did what (Lucas) needed me to do in the time I was given.''

Skinner did what the fans wanted him to do when he hit two free throws with 1:17 left for a 100-81 lead. By reaching 100, each fan got a free chalupa from a local fast-food joint. Skinner later got some applause at the mere mention of the word ``chalupas'' when he was interviewed after the game over the public-address system.

It was a feel-good night most of the way for the Cavs. But there was cause for some minor panic when the Cavs, who never trailed, saw their lead chopped to 61-60 on an 18-foot jumper by Bulls guard Greg Anthony with 6:28 left in the third quarter. But the Cavs soon realized that they were facing a team that is now 0-13 on the road.

``Nobody wants to be the first team to lose to a team struggling on the road,'' Cavs point guard Andre Miller said.

Miller seemed determined to put the game away by himself in the first quarter. He had nine assists, breaking the Gund record for assists in a quarter that he had tied last Saturday. Miller's primary benefactor was guard Wesley Person, who had 11 of his team-high 22 points in the first, as the Cavs moved out to a 37-21 lead.

But Miller cooled down significantly the rest the way, getting only three more assists. He finished with 12 points on 3-of-13 shooting.

``I think I messed him up,'' Lucas said. ``I gave him an article in USA Today saying he was the fourth-most productive guard in the league (according to a statistical formula), and I wrote him a note. He didn't even look at it. I had to go back and show him and tell him, `You're better than fourth.' ''

Call it the great paper caper. The article had to be fished out of a trash can.

``I didn't know what it was,'' Miller said. ``I saw it on my locker, and I thought it was (center DeSagana Diop's) paper. I threw it in the trash.''

Diop could have spent the game reading a paper. In what was the first time that three rookies directly out of high school suited up for the same NBA game, Chicago forward Tyson Chandler played 14 minutes, but neither Bulls center Eddy Curry nor Diop played.

It might take more than a meeting with Lucas or with a pastor to get Diop minutes these days.