Recap: Bulls 99, Cavs 96 (or, Every Rose Has It’s Thorn…)

Despite a ton of will and effort, the Cavs came out on the short end of an epic instant classic against the Bulls in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. In the end, though it was ostensibly due to the sharp sting of a Derrick Rose banked-in three pointer as time expired, it was the Cavs’ inability to execute their offense in the face of some tenacious Bulls defense that put them in that position to begin with.

The Cavs got stuck in a traffic jam on their way to the game, causing them to be a half hour late to the United Center before Game 3. Fittingly, not much would change to start this junked up game against the Chicago Bulls, with both teams struggling to score worse than a semi-truck trying to cross four lanes on the 405 during rush hour. For Tony Brothers and his crew of whistle-blowers, the “rule of verticality” was in full effect for much of the first half of the game, as they let both teams play the game from the outset. This would set the tone early as the rest of the contest became a pitched battle of attrition in which neither team would break 40% shooting, nor the century mark.

The positive news for the Cavs, aside from having J.R. Smith back after his two game suspension, was that Iman Shumpert was healthy and in the starting lineup. While this seemingly gave them a full complement (minus KLove), Kyrie appeared to suffer a turned ankle in the first quarter, which limited his effectiveness for the remainder of the game (in the post game interviews, Coach Blatt revealed that Kyrie has been playing with a sore right foot that was initially injured in Game 2 of the Boston series). The Bulls wound up getting bitten by the injury bug as well with Pau Gasol going down with a left hamstring issue that knocked him out in the second half.

Here’s how it all went down…

First Quarter:

On the first possession, Jimmy Butler forced LeBron into missing a tough turnaround shot, and it was obvious from the jump that the Bulls were going to play LeBron aggressively. The intensity was cranked up, and neither team could hit the broadside of a barn (although, Jo Noah and DRose did both manage to hit the side of the backboard somehow on drives). The early going was filled with embarrassing events for the Cavs too, like TT getting rejected by Mike Dunleavy, Moz doing his best Alexsandr Kokorin impression and bouncing the ball off his head, and LeBron letting Butler steal the ball like an infant’s sweets. The Bulls crowd roared in approval.

Then Kyrie turned an ankle, Moz got mugged and Dunleavy hit a trey in transition off of a moving screen by Noah (moving screens must be like ghosts for Tony Brothers… he just plain doesn’t believe they exist). Halfway through the quarter, the score was a paltry 11-7 Bulls, and J.R. checked in. Then LeBron decided it was time to pass (not just the ball, but several of the greats among all-time playoff assist totals), and dished four quick assists (including a half-court alley-oop beauty to Moz) to blow by Tony Parker, Steve Nash and Larry Legend into fourth place all time.

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The Cavs ended the quarter on a 17-7 run, with a couple of huge threes from Delly and James Freaking Jones (more on them later). Despite the turnover trouble, they held Bulls to 27% shooting, and were up 24-18.

Second Quarter:

This quarter was all about surprise weapons: Delly for the Cavs, and Nikola Mirotic for the Bulls. After a slow start for both teams, Delly drove with confidence and hit a one-handed drive off the glass. Then he got a great assist to Moz at the rim. Meanwhile, Mirotic gave the Bulls exactly the lift he had been able to provide down the stretch of the regular season. For anyone wondering when Thibs would finally get around to turning the big man loose in this series, wonder no more.

Even though Noah couldn’t score, he could (and did) snag a lion’s share of offensive boards (five in the first 12 minutes he played). Butler also continued to pick LeBron’s pocket as LBJ just couldn’t seem to hang onto the ball in the paint. Finally, he got free for a drive and then Kyrie hit a three (but grimaced his way down the floor after). Another Bron turnover led to a runout Dunleavy three, but then Delly stepped up with some great D on DRose, and LBJ took it to the rack. Mirotic answered with a three, but Delly drove again and found TT for the oop-slam. Delly was playing with a ton of confidence and making a difference.

The Bulls made a run against the Cavs small lineup, but then Earl stopped the bleeding with a JR SWISH (his first of several big shots), and Bron followed up with an and-one that Jeff Van Gundy claimed was a “game altering call” because it could have easily been LBJ’s third foul. Delly closed out the scoring with a big time trey. The Cavs kept up the defensive intensity, but Bulls got a ton of boards leading to 52 shot attempts. Cavs went to halftime still up 49-47.

Third Quarter:

Two rare occurrences marked the early part of this quarter: Jo Noah actually made his first basket; and Derrick Rose finally got to the free throw line. The Noah bucket would be his only one of the game, but it would be the first of 10 free throws for Rose (he’d hit nine of them). Despite a Shumpert banked trey, and some stifling D by the Cavs, the Bulls were able to take the lead with DRose driving inside and attacking.

Finally, LBJ decided to become the angry plunger to the Bulls clogged toilet defense (credit to commenter Merkaderka for the metaphoric reference), and drove inside to posterize Noah with a savage dunk. Bron got himself a tech for taunting Noah, but Noah returned the favor with some taunting of his own. Pleasantries were exchanged, and the refs separated the two before any further warm words could escalate the situation.

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The confrontation seemed to energize the Cavs though, as Kyrie hit for three and angry Bron stole the ball and dished a sweet half court bounce pass to a streaking Russian for a dunk. A Shumpert triple helped maintain a small Cavs cushion, while the defense adjusted to thwart Rose and TT played great D on Gasol (before Pau left with a hamstring injury). But as soon as Blatt sat Moz down (after missing his second short jumper) and went to James Jones, the paint opened up once more for Rose and Butler. The Bulls scored seven quick points until JFJ equalized things with a deep three. LBJ looked particularly gassed at this point, having played 31 of 33 possible minutes.

With Delly playing defense like a bulldog, things got chippy to end the third when Butler decided to throw Delly to the ground, and Aaron Brooks shoved him again and started swearing at him. After a long consultation of replay by the refs (cue Jeopardy music), they awarded Brooks with a tech. Delly hit the free throws, then snagged a long rebound and finished with a terrific lob to TT for the flush. Unfortunately, the Cavs lose track of Dunleavy and let him get an open three to take the lead. Cavs trailed 75-74 after three.

Fourth Quarter:

Kyrie began the quarter attempting to give LeBron a rest by running the offense. He failed miserably. In fact, Kyrie did not score after 7:48 mark of the third quarter (and he finished with zero assists). Much of this likely had to do with his injured foot, but the Bulls also did a terrific job of defending him inside and out. Derrick Rose, on the other hand, decided to prove everyone who subscribed to the idea that he’s not as good on one day of rest wrong. Rose scored 14 of his game high 30 points in the fourth quarter on an assortment of drives, pull up jumpers and trips to the line. He also had help from his wingman Jimmy Butler, who scored nine of his 20 points in the fourth. The simple story of this quarter was that the Bulls two stars shone brighter than the Cavs two stars.

LeBron checked back in at the 10:44 mark (no rest for the weary), and went the distance. Despite hitting some tough shots down the stretch, he also Le-ISOed a couple missed threes, had a hard luck roll out of another layup (that would have put the Cavs up in the final minute), and had the ball stolen twice more by the Bulls. He still managed 10 points in the quarter, and matched Rose in total points (and shots taken) until the final shot. With Kyrie hobbled, Bron’s wingman turned out to be J.R., who rode to the rescue three different times to tie the game with huge three point shots. The final one knotted things up at 96 with 10 seconds remaining, and looked for a short time to be the shot that would force overtime.

Unfortunately, Derrick Rose was able to get the ball one last time, and even with Tristan Thompson looming over him, was able to rise up and bank in a miracle thorn three at the buzzer to win the game… Bulls 99-96.

The Evil:

The offensive execution. The Cavs had to know the Bulls would come out with a renewed vigor on defense, and a return to their plan to junk up the paint to stop LeBron and Kyrie from driving at will. Despite this, they would have difficulty executing much in the way of a half court offense. LeBron didn’t seem to have much confidence in his outside shot early, but was also struggling with his handle against his second skin, Jimmy Butler. Yes, he had 14 assists, but half of them were in the first quarter before the Bulls adjusted. Also, once Kyrie injured (or re-injured) his foot, he became a shell of his normal Kyridiculous self.

Shattered on the glass. The Bulls outrebounded the Cavs 54-39, and had an unbelievable 18 offensive boards. Noah and Gibson were seemingly everywhere on the court snagging rebounds, plus Butler and Mirotic had eight a piece and Rose had seven of his own. The Bulls made a commitment to remedy their sub-par shooting by giving themselves more opportunities to shoot. Tristan did what he could to hold his own with 13, but aside from LBJ’s eight and Mozgov’s seven, he got little help. This was a game in which the Cavs sorely missed Kevin Love’s rebounding ability.

The truth about rest. Derrick Rose showed that he doesn’t always show up poorly on just one day of rest. Though he still didn’t shoot a high percentage (just 10-26), he did get to the line 10 times, grabbed seven boards and dished out seven dimes. He played solid defense on a banged up Kyrie, and of course hit the backbreaker three (his only one of the game) at the end to win it. Meanwhile, the Cavs, playing just an eight man rotation, looked gassed and worn out at various points during the game. LeBron once again went for 44 minutes, and the fatigue showed in the latter stages. There is no rest for the weary though, as Game 4 comes Sunday after yet another one day off.

The injury bug bites. Even though it was good news that Shump was good to go with his groin strain, things took a bad turn for the Cavs when Kyrie hurt his foot. After the game, it was revealed by David Blatt that Kyrie’s foot has been bothering him since Game 2 of the Celtics series. Clearly, Kyrie wasn’t his usual self after re-injuring his foot in the first quarter. Given how well Delly was filling in during his minutes tonight (just 16 compared to Kyrie’s 38), Blatt should be accountable for not balancing that out. After all, Kyrie shot terribly (3-13) had zero assists and three turnovers (including one costly one in the fourth quarter). The Bulls also didn’t go unscathed from injury, losing Pau Gasol to a left hamstring injury late in the third quarter. His availability for Sunday is questionable.

You stole my butterfingers. LeBron’s seven turnovers were mostly the result of steals by the Bulls (five from Butler and two from Mirotic), but his handle was undeniably sloppy throughout the game. Whether it was a result of the pressure applied by the Bulls, or LeBron’s own discomfort with both his drive and his back-down post game, something was just missing from his ball-handling skills this game. He still found open shooters for threes, but several of the passes were of the jump-pass bailout variety.

Nikola the Great. Tom Thibadeau finally decided to unleash his Euro weapon this game, and he did not disappoint (at least for Bulls fans). Mirotic stretched the floor, scored 12 points, grabbed eight boards and used his fouls well on his way to a game high +19. When Gasol went down late in the game, he stepped in and the Bulls didn’t lose much. Mirotic gives the Bulls yet another tough matchup for the Cavs to gameplan for going forward.

The Genius:

The effort. Despite not having their best shooting night, and not having much in the way of offensive execution in the half court, all of the Cavs put forth maximum effort to try and win this one. To a man, they fought through fatigue, physical defense and even injury to rip this game away from the Bulls. In the end, it took a buzzer-beating miracle to lose it.

Defensive stalwarts. Aside from a lapse in the third quarter, the Cavs played swarming and gritty defense against Chicago. They closed out on the perimeter and chased guys off the line, allowing the Bulls to shoot just 6-21 from deep for 28%. They held Chicago to just 38% for the game and under 30% for most of the first half. The trouble came in the second half when the Bulls drove inside and kept getting to the line. Overall though, they played well enough defensively to win this game.

The Three(point) Amigos. The bench (all three of them) outscored the Bulls’ bench 32-23 for the game. Delly, JFJ and JR Swish all took turns hitting big shots and making a difference. Delly had 10 points in just 16 minutes, with four assists while running the offense well. JFJ hit two big threes, had eight points and even played some good defense. J.R. made the most of his return to the team, nailing four huge threes (usually to tie the score) for 14 points off the bench. Together, the three amigos hit 8-16 from deep, on a night when the starters could only combine to go 6-18 from beyond the arc.

The Cavs have their work cut out for them now that they find themselves down 2-1 with another tough game in Chicago. The good news is that (similarly to Game 1), even though they didn’t have their best game, they were still in it until the very end. However, to come back and take this series from the Bulls, and move forward in these playoffs, the remaining two of the Big Three are going to have to find a way to kick-start the offense in Game 4.