Recap: Cleveland 99, Chicago 94 (Or, Bombs Away)

In a game that saw Cleveland go 16-37 from three, the Cavs showed no remorse gunning triples. Those 16 makes? They included three buzzer beaters from 23, 41, and 52 feet. Cleveland gave their playoff rotation a dress rehearsal and only played eight players: the starters plus Tristan, Shump, and Delly. The top eight played well, tripling out to a 54-45 halftime lead, a 15 point lead in the third, and a 12 point lead with seven minutes left, but the Bulls made a charge in the late fourth to cut Cleveland’s crunch time lead to just five. Some undisciplined offense helped Chicago’s cause, but their lack of a go-to scorer hurt it. And as the Cavs scored a few clutch buckets, Chicago could never get closer than a two possession deficit as time ran out.

LeBron James messed around and got a triple double — his first of the year! He had a very efficient game with 20 points, 12 dimes, and 10 boards, plus 3 steals, a block, and only three turnovers. He even committed a flagrant foul! (The worst call on a flagrant I’ve seen all year: James set a screen on Mirotic and Mirotic fell over like Kevin James being kicked by a horse in that Godawful Paul Blart trailer. Hopefully, Nikola gets a flopping fine or gets kicked by a horse). The King set up shop in the post, and did most of his damage on short dribble drives and in transition. He was 1-3 from three, and 1-7 from mid-range, and 6-7 at the rim. James has also been more aggressive on the boards in the last two games than I’ve seen him all year. His dimes came by feeding sweet rolls to the rim by Mozgov, and finding jump shooters for a bevy of threes. I’m happy to see LBJ in “playoff mode.” Grade: Ice Cube

Speaking of threes, J.R. Smith made eight, and set an NBA record for the most three attempts without a two point attempt (17). J.R. was 6-8 in the first half, including this catch-and shoot 41-footer to close the second quarter.

Despite the 24 points in a game high 43 minutes, J.R. went 2-9 in the second half and his unrepentant chucking, especially in the mid fourth, helped Chicago close the gap. I would have liked to see Earl with a little more game awareness in those situations. But J.R.’s best contribution was checking Jimmy Butler virtually the entire game, and holding him to 16 points in 42 minutes. Grade: Movie Theater Popcorn (the first half is always better than the second).

Earl’s first half buzzer beater eclipsed Kyrie Irving‘s first quarter bomb from the left corner.

Kyrie would answer that in the third, when some goofy officiating and shot-clock operation made Kyrie think there was 22 seconds on the shot clock when there were really two. LeBron yelled at K.I. to shoot, and Irving buried a 51-footer which made everyone think, “Yeah, this might be the Cavs afternoon.”

The rest of Irving’s game was pretty solid too. He finished with a game high 27 points, including 4-5 from three, and 7-8 from the line. Irving did a nice job of stepping in and getting buckets or a trip to the line when the Cavs offense started to falter. He also helped harass Bulls starting point guard, Aaron Brooks, into seven turnovers. The only blemish on Irving’s game was his five turnovers to four assists. His handle was a little sloppy. Grade: Eating a greasy hamburger while flying a B-1 bomber.

Speaking of sandwiches, our favorite smacker of effigy subs, Timofey Mozgov, had his usual efficient game: 11 points, eight boards, three dimes, no turnovers, and five fouls in 32 minutes. Timo even got himself some fourth quarter run, which was a welcome sight. Oh, and he’s turning into a deadly roll man/finisher in the pick and roll. He had two MOZILLA! dunks off LeBron feeds in the early fourth that caused a Thibs rage timeout. Mozzy’s biggest struggle was recovering to Pau Gasol who drained a few wide open mid-rangers. I’d also like to see Timo do a better job of boxing out on defense, especially if he isn’t going to notch any shot blocks. The Cavs were outrebounded 48-40, and some of that is on Timo, who needs to get a little physical with the Gasol/Noah twin towers. Grade: happy hour at the Brew Garden.

Pau Gasol looked really good for the Bulls, but he finished with only 12 points on 13 shoots, plus nine boards and four dimes. Pau desperately could have used more touches, and as long as Aaron Brooks is taking as many shots as Gasol, the Bulls aren’t going to be good. Joakim Noah had a very Joakim Noah game, playing on the nail, dishing seven dimes, grabbing eight boards, and losing his mind over a call in a way that would have netted any other player in the league a tech. Twin Towers Grade: A Bosom Buddies reboot staring Joakim and Pau.

Part of the reason that the Bulls two big men couldn’t get rolling is that Kevin Love is turning into a pretty solid defensive player. Gone is the guy from early in the season who never got his hands up, and in his place is a guy who’s usually in the right place, executing the game plan. Kevin was all over the court in the late fourth: drawing an offensive foul, helping shut down Mirotic, fighting through a Mirotic screen to challenge a Brooks three, and frustrating Joakim Noah. Kevin’s offense was gravy. He didn’t shoot fantastically, and definitely had a hard time scoring over Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari. But Love had a big drive and dunk over Noah, and he hit a huge crunch time three to finish with 11 points, four boards, 2 dimes, 2 steals, and a block. That’s called filling out the box score. Who knew in December that we’d be ok with Love having a poor shooting and rebounding game, because his defense was so solid? It was nice to see a spring in his step after sitting out a couple games, too. Grade: Manimal.

Let’s talk about Matthew Dellavedova, who had an amazing two play stretch where he clanked in a layup and then dove into the second row to save the ball and set up J.R. for a triple. But Delly did little else during his 13 minutes, leading to a lot of box score zeros, and a team low, -7  plus/minus. Grade: Zoo Wallaby.

Tristan Thompson had a similarly ho-hum game. I was particularly irked at a play where he over-collapsed and gave up a wide open left corner three on a ball swing during the Bulls comeback push. Six boards and four points in 26 minutes including 2-6 at the line is an underwhelming stat-line for TT. Grade: Roadside Stand Firecrackers.

But… Tristan played far better than Taj Gibson who had one of the worst games I’ve ever seen from him, and went -19 in 23 minutes. To call him a non-factor would be generous. Five points and two rebounds? Yikes. Grade: glad Cleveland has Tristan.

Iman Shumpert really is turning into the second coming of trick-or-treat Tony Allen. He was all over the floor defensively, and is a constant harassment, but he was a scoreless 0-6. Shump either going has it on any given night, or he’s a bricklayer. And that’s ok. Just defend, baby. Grade: 100 Bruce Bowen Bobble Heads.

David Blatt and the coaching staff did a nice job establishing a rotation, and I especially liked Mozzy’s contributions in the fourth. Without their usual teammates, Delly and Tristan looked a little lost offensively at times. Delly had no James Jones to set up and Tristan had a little bit harder time figuring out where he was supposed to be on both sides of the ball, but they’ll figure it out. The Cavs never let the game get out of hand, and managed the game well, late. Though, a nice “stop chucking” moment would have been nice in the early third. Chicago will be different in the playoffs with Rose and Hinrich back, but a statement win has to help Cleveland’s confidence. And 18 straight at home is nothing to sneeze at. Coaching Grade: 18 Bo Ryan commemorative plaques.

Wrapping it up, the Cavs magic number for a lock on the second seed in the East stands at one game (Cavs win or Bulls loss). The Cavs have five games left, and I’m betting we see lots of guys resting when the Cavs play three games in four nights next weekend. The playoffs can’t get here fast enough.