Overview: After leading by as many as 21 in the third quarter, the Bulls were able to survive a 38-29 fourth quarter by the Cavs to hold on for a 108-106 victory. LeBron James led all scorers with a line of 39/10/8, and Kirk Hinrich led the Bulls with 27 points on 12 shots.
Game Summary:
Not a good loss for the Cavs. They came out completely flat, failing to run their offense and giving up way too many good looks to Rose and Hinrich. Trying to turn it on after getting down 21 points is not how to win playoff games.
Shaq was ineffective, going 2-8 from the field, committing fouls, and having some serious trouble in the pick-and-roll game. The Cavs had much more success when they went small later in the game, but by then it was too late.
LeBron had a great game, but the Cavs needed a perfect one. He went for 39 points on 26 shots, but didn’t get his teammates involved early. He had 14 points on 13 jumpers, but took some ill-advised heat-checks in the second half and missed five free throws. The main issue is that he didn’t get enough support, but he made some mistakes of his own.
Not enough ball movement, not enough drives to the hole, too much reliance on the three-ball. Mo and LeBron hitting some tough threes off the dribble allowed the Cavs to shoot 40% from beyond the arc, but the Cavs got outscored in the paint for the second straight game. They have to take it to the hole.
The Cavs did everything right down the stretch. They went hyper-small, and that allowed them to turn it into a close game. Delonte made some huge offensive rebounds, LeBron did a great job of defending the paint, Antawn finally started taking it inside, and the Cavs started to hit some threes. It proved to be too little, too late, but it gave everyone a look of just how dangerous this team can be.
Give the Bulls a lot of credit for how they played down the stretch, especially Rose. Rose and Deng made five huge floaters in a three-minute stretch in the fourth to keep the Cavs at bay, and Cleveland probably wouldn’t have broken through if they didn’t hit those shots. You don’t see the floater much anymore, and going hard to the rim is generally the better option, but that shot saved Chicago’s bacon on Thursday.
The Cavs hit some crazy threes to give themselves a chance at Sundiata Gaines-ing the game late, but two crucial errors ended up doing them in. With the Cavs trailing by three with eight seconds to play, Mike Brown told the Cavs to run the scissor-cut set out of a timeout. It would have set Mo Williams up with a good look from the corner, but first the ball went to 66% free throw shooter Anderson Varejao at the elbow. Luol Deng is no fool, and quickly put him on the line. Varejao missed the second one, allowing the Bulls to go to the line and make it a two-possession game.
Mo Williams hit a crazy three to cut the lead to one, but with no timeouts left they weren’t able to set up a play with four seconds to go. They got a look at a game-winner, but that look was a half-court Anthony Parker three off the dribble. That’s not what you want there.
Two big calls hurt the Cavs late. LeBron took the ball right at Deng in transition with the Cavs trailing by three and made it with contact, but got whistled for a charge. In my opinion, it was a 50-50 call. Deng wasn’t stiff as a board, but he wasn’t shuffling when LeBron jumped straight into him. I though it was going to go LeBron’s way when I saw it; if I was a Bulls fan, I probably would’ve thought Deng drew the charge. One of those calls that makes me glad I’m not an NBA ref.
Then there was the non-call on Joakim Noah’s headlock of LeBron when he was going to rebound the ball with the Cavs down one with eight seconds to go. It was off the ball, so it wasn’t an easy call to see, but it was a missed call. You can get mad about it all you want, but the bottom line is that when you play close games, you run the risk of putting the game in the hands of the officials. The Cavs could easily have played well enough to decide the game themselves, but they didn’t.
11 missed free throws in a 2-point game. That’s one thing. When only one of those free throws was missed by a power forward or center, that’s positively maddening. 7-13 for LeBron. 2-5 for Mo Williams, who missed three free throws in the entire month of April heading into this game. Absolutely unacceptable.
I am spitting mad right now. Remember how I used to say that you wanted these kind of games to happen in February? Well, now it’s the playoffs. I don’t buy the “wake-up call” thing either. This team got upset in the playoffs last season. Their best player is a free-agent this off-season. Boston had 2008. LA had last year. Orlando has the future. No team has more pressure on them than the Cavs do, and they’re acting like they don’t need to take every playoff game seriously.
Like I said, if they run through the Bulls in the next two games, I’ll buy the “wake-up call” thing. Right now, all I see is a team that hasn’t won a playoff game on the road this season giving up a playoff game against a 41-41 team to put them three losses away from an unthinkable collapse. With LeBron scoring 38 points. If the Cavs don’t pull it off this season, this is the kind of game that will make LeBron look at his options. If that doesn’t make you terrified, I don’t know what will.
Cavs-Related Bullets:
-I’ve covered most of my LeBron notes. He was absolutely incredible; I’m not sure any other player in the NBA is so much as capable of delivering a performance like that.
There were some mistakes, and those are the plays that will go under the microscope in a close loss. Missed free throws. Heat-check jumpers when the Cavs needed to squeeze every possession. Getting stripped by Noah late. Getting burned by Deng a few times. I hate when LeBron plays this well in losses, because I can’t in good conscience gush about his performance.
-My biggest concern so far is how invisible Varejao has been. Three points and six fouls in 20 minutes tonight for Andy. Not only has Andy been invisible on offense, but he hasn’t been making plays on defense either. He needs to get going.
-Acceptable game from Mo. He didn’t run the offense very well (in fact, the Cavs really didn’t run an offense this game), but he made some big shots and got his points.
-Jamison looked awful when he shot threes early, and great when he went to the basket late. His final line? 19 points on 17 shots, and 11 rebounds. Typical Jamison game + more possessions.
-Delonte didn’t put up points and he had serious trouble staying in front of Rose. He at least looked like himself on the offensive end, hitting an open three, rarely settling for mid-range jumpers, and making some great hustle plays to get the Cavs extra possessions.
-Damed if you do, damned if you don’t with Shaq at this point. The Cavs were clearly better with him off the floor in this game, but need him for the later rounds. I think MB did the right thing by giving him significant burn in the first half and not forcing him back in after the Cavs had success going small.
-Cavs gave up seven points in the four minutes LeBron sat.
Bullets Of Randomness:
-The 31 points on 26 shots isn’t all that impressive from Rose. He did look more aggressive at times, but mostly he made some mid-range jumpers and push shots that he missed in the first two games. Rose not turning the ball over once is much more noteworthy.
-Wow, this team looks completely different when Kirk Hinrich puts up 27/5/5 instead of playing like a zombie. Seriously, where did THAT come from? He has officially moved to the top of my enigma list.
-Anyone else catch the moment where Miller got called for pushing Varejao, then they were both smiling and chatting amicably about it when they came back down the floor? I kind of like the idea of guys like Varejao, Miller and Ginobili being friends when they step off the court and stop getting paid to piss people off.
-Well, if there was ever a good day to lose a close playoff game, it was probably NBA Draft day. Tomorrow’s top basketball headline will probably be about Joe Haden’s days as a high school point guard. Until later, guys.
I got a feeling the Cavs run the Bulls out of the gym in game 4, but it’s just a feeling. I want to know who does Hickson possibly play for? It isn’t like Z is getting a bunch of minutes for him to take. So does he take Shaqs minutes or Varejaos minutes? Personally, they are both mor important to this teams ultimate goal than Hickson is, and I’m not ok with giving up their minutes for his. Thoughts?
@Rich If the Cavs don’t run the Bulls out of the gym on sunday then I will be Seriously concerned about the Cavs title chances. I am in the “Cavs need to stop playing only in the 4th quarter” camp. The Bulls are not that good and if we can’t beat them then we have no chance against Orlando or the Lakers. I mentioned here a month or so ago that I was concerned because playing all-out for the entire game is very difficult to just switch on in the middle of the playoffs. If the Cavs can’t somehow turn it on after last game, then I doubt they’ll be able to pull it off.
If they Can pull it off, then the Bulls are no kind of threat.
@Tom Orlando does Not have more talent than the Cavs. Neither do the Lakers. And I agree with @Rich about the Lakers lack of a bench. The Lakers best 5 players are better than the Cavs top 5, but if you look at the top 8 or 9 of both teams, then the Cavs are quite a bit better. With the Magic, the starting 5′s are very close, and both have a good bench… but they don’t have a player on their bench as good as Varajao. Other than that, the talent-level is similar.
But TVWOC, we have recent history to not be concerned about whether or not the Cavs lose this next game or simply don’t win by enough.
Again, the 08 Celtics lost 3 games in the first round to the THIRTY SEVEN win Hawks. That is right…eight games under .500. The Celtics had 67 wins. In two of those games, they got completely hammered by the Hawks. They followed that up with an even closer 7 game series with the 45 win cavs. In the first two series they walked away with 0 road wins. Just about everyone and their mother (including me) was picking Detroit to beat them in the conference finals, believing that Boston just didn’t have what it took to win on the road and wasn’t beating the lesser teams like they should have. Boston proceeded to get their first win on the road in the playoffs against the 60 win Pistons, and beat them in 6. Followed that up with winning in L.A. in the championship.
Their fans were in full panic mode during the first round. I remember Bill Simmons writing an article in the middle of that round already lamenting a failed season. He had given up hope of them possibly beating the better teams later in the playoffs. We were all wrong. They were still the better team even if they struggled with lesser teams. Don’t give up if the Cavs come out not looking like world beaters in this next game, it isn’t over.
Oh, and for the guy who thinks the Cavs have a sorry roster and LeBron isn’t getting help. You cited Dallas as a team with more talent, take a gander at that series. Currently, the game (3) is on it is up in the air. Dirk is yet again carrying that team and here they are possibly going down 1-2. If the arguement is LeBron isn’t getting help this series (Which I disagree with) can we also say that Dirk is getting no help? And does that mean that Dallas isn’t that talented?
@Rich I understand the argument that the Cavs need to get Shaq, and to a lesser extent Z, going for later but I would argue that they aren’t doing that. I realize Shaq has been in foul trouble but at some point you have to let him play through it don’t you? If Brown feels like he can win games without playing Shaq, as he did most of the second half of game 2, then whats the difference if he fouls out? We definitely need Shaq for later on, but if we’re going to play him anyway, lets run AV and JJ at the same time with LeBron and whatever combination of Delonte/Mo/Moon.
All that said, I realize the goal is to win the title, not win the series against the Bulls and like I said before, I trust that MB knows what he’s doing.
Sorry, if we’re NOT going to play him anyway*
haha.. should have said AV and JJ or Jamison and JJ. Can’t type tonight.
This is my favorite place to read about the Cavs, but it is indeed alarmist to bring up the prospect of an “unthinkable collapse”, and the “terrifying prospect of LeBron considering his options” after one playoff loss in which there were indeed bright spots.