CHICAGO -- Jimmy Butler scored 21 points and Cristiano Felicio had 16 off the bench as the Chicago Bulls staved off playoff elimination with a 105-102 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night at the United Center.

Nikola Mirotic scored 13 points and Pau Gasol and Derrick Rose each finished with 10 for the Bulls (40-40), who would have been eliminated from playoff contention with a loss.

Chicago needs to win its remaining two games and have Indiana lose all three of its remaining games to clinch a postseason berth.

LeBron James scored 33 points and J.R. Smith finished with 24 for the Cavaliers (57-23), who entered the night in need of a victory to clinch the best record in the Eastern Conference for the third time in franchise history.

Kevin Love finished with a double-double (20 points, 13 rebounds) for Cleveland, which also got 11 points for Kyrie Irving.

After James got Cleveland within 104-101 late, Smith split two free throws to cut the deficit to two points. After a Smith miss on the second free throw, Cleveland's Mathew Dellavedova missed a 3-point attempt with two seconds remaining that would have given the Cavaliers the lead.

Gasol split two free throws with 1.6 seconds remaining to give the Bulls a three-point lead. Smith's 3-point attempt at the buzzer missed its mark, which allowed the Bulls to hold on.

The Bulls went on a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter en route to the win sparked by their bench, which scored 44 points. An Aaron Brooks driving layup gave the Bulls a 95-84 lead with 6:24 remaining before Butler capped the decisive surge.

The Cavaliers led 54-52 at halftime behind James, Love and Irving -- all of whom reached double figures in the first half.

James was the most efficient of the three, hitting 6 of 8 shots from the field to pace Cleveland with 14 points.

Love sparked the Cavaliers early, scoring all 13 of his first-half points in the first quarter, and Irving had nine of his 11 points in the second quarter.

NOTES: Bulls F Taj Gibson (ribs) and G E'Twaun Moore (left hamstring) missed Saturday night's game. Coach Fred Hoiberg said Gibson, who missed his sixth straight game, and Moore, who has missed four straight games, probably will be shut down for the remainder of the regular season. ... Hoiberg showed a clip of the movie "Dumb and Dumber" to his team during Saturday's shoot-around, playing off the line: "So you are saying there's still a chance" in regard to the Bulls' slim playoff chances. ... Cavaliers G Mo Williams did not travel with the team to Chicago after having his ailing left knee re-evaluated. Williams experienced discomfort and soreness following the Cavaliers' loss to Indiana on April 6. Coach Tyronn Lue said Saturday that he did not yet have an update on Williams' status for the rest of the regular season.