Recap: Bulls 113, Cavs 98 (Or, Tony Snell +29, LeBron -27)

https://soundcloud.com/dayton-radio/tom-pestak-2-12-15

The Bulls came to play, LeBron laid an egg.  A win would have been nice for the Cavs, a loss would have hurt the Bulls more than the Cavs.  LeBron was -27, Tony Snell, a mutant created when Tony Allen and Ray Allen’s DNA was combined, was +29 and completely dominated LeBron at both ends.

1st Quarter:

Cavs netted the first five points of the game including a LeBron and-1.  After a rebound, LeBron stumbled against the pressure of Tony Snell and coughed it up, leading to a Pau Gasol and-1 the other way: five-point swing for the Bulls.  LeBron, seemingly annoyed, calmly stepped into a 3 right in Snell’s eye.  And that was the last outside shot LeBron made in the half (and he took quite a few).  The Bulls turned up the heat at both ends.  Rumors of Gasol’s resurgence turned out to be true.  He punished the Cavs inside and even stepped out and swished a corner 3.  And then Tony Snell happened.  In addition to hounding LeBron like a bulldog, Snell cut right down the lane on back to back possessions and threw down vicious 2-handed dunks.  The Bulls continued to flash people down the middle of the lane and the Cavs really didn’t do anything to slow them down.  Mozgov showed some life offensively, tossing in a nice left-handed pop shot over Joakim Noah, and drove from the foul line-extended to throw down a brutal left-handed dunk.

Helllllllllllo, Timo. #CLEvsCHI

— Allie Clifton (@RealAClifton) February 13, 2015

Derrick Rose started attacking, and the Cavs struggled to match the Bulls aggression.  Tony Snell buried a 3 to end the quarter, giving the Bulls a 30-26 quarter.  LeBron scored a bit early, and then Tony Snell really punked him.  Reggie Miller pointed out that LeBron was having trouble getting warm – constantly blowing into his hands.

2nd Quarter:

Immediately in the second quarter, Aaron Brooks took a high handoff from the deep left wing.  Delly smartly went under the screen, as Brooks was 6 feet behind the line.  As Delly juked to close the gap, Brooks puzzlingly rose up and fired away.  Of course, he made it.  And the Delly haters were out in full force.  Ah well.    The Cavs went through a huge dry spell where their only bucket was a Mozgov hook shot.  Saying “dry spell” might imply their shots just weren’t falling.  But really, they were just getting abused at both ends.  They weren’t making shots because they’re weren’t getting any easy looks.  The lead ballooned to 14 and I thought the Cavs were due for a blowout.

#Cavs look completely checked out. Mentally, physically… Still time to re-engage, but no one looks excited to be playing tonight

— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) February 13, 2015

Blatt sat LeBron down and went with an ultra-small lineup, inserting James Jones at the 4.  So you can imagine, if I thought a blowout was looming BEFORE that decision, I wasn’t feeling too confident after the fact.  But a strange thing happened.  The Bulls, who had been, to a man, dominating the Cavs physically, took the red meat and did everything they could to force feed Taj Gibson, posting up James Jones on each possession.  It wasn’t like Gibson forgot how to play, indeed, he scored all of the Bulls points in the last 5 and a half minutes, save one layup from Joakim Noah.  But he only scored three times.  And it had the residual effect of the other four Bulls staying out of the action on offense, letting Gibson go to work.  It was like watching a boxer that had been destroying a lesser opponent with body shot after body shot suddenly back off and start trying to land haymakers, only to let the guy on the ropes duck under a few swings and regain his footing.  The Cavs bench at the other end did a great job manufacturing decent looks against the Bulls stout defense.  Kyrie and Tristan flashed a little buddy-ball and Shumpert drained a much-needed 3.  When the halftime buzzer sounded, it felt like the Cavs should have been trailing by 20, and they were within seven.

LeBron's 5 turnovers are his most in a 1st half this season

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 13, 2015

Halftime Tidbits:

Charles Barkley summed up the game nicely.  The Cavs are already on spring break.  They’re not going to win this game, they’re going through the motions.  Pretty much.

Funny Tweet:

Every time James Jones takes a jumper, I check Hoopshype for Ray Allen rumors.

— Patrick Duprey (@patrickjduprey) February 13, 2015

3rd Quarter:

The Cavs came out looking to be more assertive but couldn’t get into a rhythm.  Right off the bat Mozgov was called for a touch-foul as Gasol flopped on a rebound.  Moz complained, and the refs Teed him up as he walked to the bench with his fourth foul.

Tonight illustrates why #Cavs still looking for another big. Love out, Mozgov in foul trouble leaves them perilously thin in frontcourt

— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) February 13, 2015

The Bulls started the quarter on an 8-0 run.  The Cavs gradually started getting better shots and even some layups.  In fact, pretty much every time LeBron drove and didn’t cough up the ball something good happened.  But LeBron was just being stubborn tonight, and kept launching terrible shots.

LeBron only has four career games with a -27 or worse: http://t.co/RywjbonTCv

— Jacob L. Rosen (@JacobLRosen) February 13, 2015

There was a cool sequence when the ball rotated to Pau Gasol on the right baseline.  He was all alone for a 15-footer which I expected to be automatic.  But he clanked it, and on the Cavs next possession, Mozgov swished a similar jumper off similar offensive action.  He out-Pau’d Pau.  The Bulls kept the Cavs at arms length until the final minutes of the quarter as the Cavs chipped away at the free throw line to close within single digits.  The Cavs inbounded the ball with 24.x seconds left on the clock and here’s what happened.  LeBron slow walked the ball up the court, turned his back to Tony Snell as he crossed the timeline, took some air out of the ball, and then puzzlingly decided to start driving towards the hoop with 10 seconds left on the clock.  The Bulls immediately closed so he kicked to James Jones who decided to fire away a semi-contested 3.  He made it.  (Which is great and all – gotta be positive and whatnot) And it gave the Bulls 6.x seconds for Derrick Rose to streak down the court and throw in a reverse layup.  (More on this later)

4th Quarter:

More of the same in the 4th quarter.  While the zebras refused to call anything in the first quarter, they were blowing whistles at the mere sight of a jersey swaying in the breeze.  Every single rebounded ended with a flop and a whistle and the Bulls went into the bonus very early in the 4th.  Tony Snell drained a 3 with 6:30 left in the game to give the Bulls 100 points, a 14-point lead, and the game.  The Cavs never seriously challenged again as LeBron continued to undermine them offensively and Kyrie couldn’t get hot from outside.

LeBron done with a -29. His worst in a non-Boston/non-playoff game in his 1,045-game NBA career.

— Jacob L. Rosen (@JacobLRosen) February 13, 2015

Final Thoughts:

Alright let’s do two things.  First, let’s all agree that in the grand scheme this loss probably means little.  No need to overreact to the OUTCOME.  But let’s dive into some of the big problems that manifested during this game, they are instructive.

1.) If you DVRd this game save it for posterity sake.  You’ll want to remember this game.  This game almost perfectly captured a few inconvenient truths about LeBron, and to a lesser extent the Cavs in general.

2.) If you didn’t watch this game, you’d see that LeBron scored 31 points on 12/26 shooting.  And yet, this was one the worst game I have seen from LeBron.  He was credited with eight turnovers, and it should have been more like 12.  The TNT crew even explained out of a timeout that it was actually James Jones that was given a turnover of an obvious LeBron error.  LeBron was being harrassed by Tony Snell as soon as he crossed the timeline.  Snell was overplaying the living daylights out of LeBron, daring him to drive into the Bulls frontline.  LeBron obliged by continually chucking up terrible outside shots.  I mean terrible.  Like, showing enough hesitation that his teammates didn’t even know where to move and then inching his foot across the 3-point line and bricking the longest of long 2s.  Here’s his shot chart:

3.) Tonight’s LeBron was Game 5 Boston LeBron.  Obviously that game may have been the most meaningful in Cavaliers history, tonight is virtually meaningless.  But the way LeBron approached the game completely took his teammates out of any rhythm.  You could see them looking puzzled on offense, not knowing where to go, having no idea if he wanted a pick or to clear out or if he was going to drive and kick.  I really wanted to see him make an adjustment and demand the ball in the post.  He only tried once, was denied the initial post-entry pass, and never tried again.

4.) There was a sequence in the second half where LeBron stuck his second 3 of the game.  You could tell from his body language he hoped this would get him going.  On the next possession he dribbled it up with an extra pep in his step looking to force the issue.  Tony Snell snuffed this out and overplayed him once again, forcing him to dribble into the lane.  But he had nowhere to go, the rest of the team probably assumed he was going to launch a heat cheat, and he jump-passed a missile right off James Jones (this is the turnover that JJ was credited with, incredibly).

5.) Kyrie was cold from outside but the rest of the Cavs played pretty well, all things considered.  I thought Shawn Marion got kind of abused and J.R. Smith too one too many outside shots, but the outcome of this game was really this simple: Tony Snell played like a demigod, and LeBron played like garbage (and dominated almost every possession in which he was involved).  Snell was +29 and LeBron was -27.  That’s your game right there.

6.) For all the “LeBron has no help!” people/pundits that have shouted this from the rooftops since he descended upon the league, this game perfectly encapsulates how difficult it can be to play with LeBron.  Obviously, I want to point out that LeBron is the best player in the game and one of the best teammates I’ve ever witnessed.  That said, LeBron doesn’t mold his game to FIT IN.  He is the star, and all the other planets revolved around him.  If he turns into a red dwarf, everyone dies.  Short of NOT LeBRON NOT PLAYING (which, incidentally the Cavs were +12 in the 12 minutes he didn’t play) there was no solution tonight.  The Cavs were going to have to completely shut down the hungrier Bulls if they had any hope of overcoming LeBron’s strange game.

7.) OK, I’ve spent 6 bullet points ragging on LeBron.  This isn’t anywhere close to a typical LeBron game.  I’m not going to lose sleep over it (but I will lose sleep over Tony Snell and Jimmy Butler in a 7-game series) but I feel like the Cavs need a contingency plan when this sort of thing happens because it DOES happen from time to time.  In 2009 the Magic (with the help of some PEDs) just flat out beat The Cavs, and LeBron had a historic series.  But in almost every playoff run since then, LeBron has had these games pop up where he not only looks out of sync, but the rest of the team has no idea how to overcome it.  Look he took 26 shots, turned it over (officially) 8 times, and had 4 assists.  In 36 minutes.  He wasn’t hiding in the background.  Maybe the contingency should be using his enormous frame to draw attention in the post, or playing decoy, or running some set plays, or coming around curls from the left side.  Maybe flying back door just to draw the attention of the bigs to let Kyrie play surgeon with the other side of the court.  The Cavs — and I think LeBron has to be the most culpable — just don’t do this.

8.) The Cavs reeled off 14 out of their last 16 games before the all-star break.  David Blatt’s job is safe, Mozgov/Shump/Smith look like the perfect antidote to what was ailing the Cavs earlier in the year, and the Cavs, barring some more #SeasonOfHuh action, should finish the season in the top-4 in the East.  They’ve made some great improvements since LeBron returned from his 2-week therapy session.

9.) Kyrie Irving isn’t a great defensive player, but I continue to appreciate how hard he is working at that end.  Hardly anyone is talking about this, but Kyrie’s improved Pick and Roll defense has propelled the Cavs from bottom-5 defensive team to “respectable enough to make a deep playoff run”.

Kyrie's defensive PNR stats look great. I had no idea. He's allowing 0.67 PPP this season on 248 plays.

— Evan Zamir (@thecity2) February 13, 2015

10.) TT and Mozgov were great tonight.  I thought they kept the Cavs in the game, along with Shumpert.

11.) I liked what David Blatt did tonight.  He kept LeBron on the bench to end the half, riding the bench guys that were slowly clawing the Cavs back into the game.  His decision to play James Jones 30 minutes was puzzling to everyone, but it didn’t hurt the Cavs, and what options did he have?  The Cavs were headed for an early blowout in the 2nd quarter and his decision to go into a quasi-zone and put a smaller defender (Jones) on Taj Gibson forced the hand of the Bulls who got out of their rhythm.

12.) The Cavs lost to the Pacers and the Bulls during this streak.  They had trouble putting away the Pistons.  They still have trouble responding to extra-physical teams.  Mozgov has helped, but ISO-ball is not how you beat the rough-and-tumble grinders.  Kevin Love would have helped open up the floor tonight, drawing one of Gasol/Noah away from the paint.  Hopefully these losses serve to motivate the Cavs going forward.

13.) The Bulls still have Derrick Rose, who showed some signs of life tonight.  Really glad he can’t shoot worth a lick.

14.) OK I want to pontificate over the way the Cavs suck at clock management.  Has anyone seen the Cavs successfully ATTEMPT a 2-for-1 this season?  I don’t mean they actually converted on both possessions, I mean they purposefully shot quickly so as to leave the opponent with 32 seconds instead of 25 in order to get another attempt.  Has anyone seen it?  I have not.  The other side of the coin is that the Cavs are terrible at running out the clock.  If you have the ball and the differential between the game clock and the shot clock is such that the hang-time of a 3-pointer + time to secure a rebound is enough to ensure the other team doesn’t get another attempt….then why on earth would you take the air out of the ball until the 10 second mark and THEN fire away?  It’s not like you were channeling your inner Spur and running a meaningful motion offense to get the best shot available. You were just pounding the rock 40 feet from the hoop!  I just don’t get it.  If you are going to purposely run the clock down then at least do it right!

15.) The Eastern Conference is tougher than its reputation.  Assuming moderate health, Chicago, Toronto, Atlanta, and Washington will be difficult in a 7-game series.  Cavs have a lot to work on between now and then.  The good news is this:

Irving,Kyrie | James,LeBron | Love,Kevin | Mozgov,Timofey | Smith,J.R. This lineup is by far the most used lineup by the Cavs over the last 16 games (not including tonight).  In 183 minutes, that lineup has outscored opponents by 94 points.  NINETY FOUR POINTS.  If you want to sleep easy tonight, maybe just stare at that for a while.