Carlos Santana Named Eastern League POY
November 5, 2009While We’re Waiting… Protesting a Protest, DeJuan Blair Rumors, and Cavs Head to NY
November 6, 2009Chicago Bulls (2-2) vs
Cleveland Cavaliers (3-2)
Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
Thursday, November 5, 2009
8:00 PM EST
TNT/WTAM
You have to be proud of the game the Cavaliers played against the Wizards on Tuesday. Admit it, when the Cavs found themselves down 18 points in the first half, none of you really believed they would fight their way back. But that’s exactly what happened. In the end, the Cavaliers walked away with a fairly easy win over the team that loves to hate us so much. People are so quick to criticize Mike Brown when things aren’t going well, but credit belongs to the coach for recognizing the massive size mismatch the Cavs had inside and sticking to it. Credit goes to realizing Boobie Gibson had the hot hand in the 2nd half and he gave him the proper minutes to have a strong affect on the game. Granted, these things should be obvious, but hey, baby steps. So it is that the Cavaliers welcome division rivals Chicago into the Q where the Cavs will try to extend their 3 game win streak. The Bulls come in limping a bit in terms of confidence and performance, and being shorthanded won’t help them much at all either.
Projected Starting Lineups
Chicago Bulls:
-G Derrick Rose (11.8 ppg, 4.8 apg, 0.5 spg, 12.03 PER)
-G John Salmons (10.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.8 apg, 3.57 PER)
-F Luol Deng (17.8 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 0.8 apg, 20.42 PER)
-F Taj Gibson (5.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 0.5 bpg, 12.39 PER)
-C Joakim Noah (10.0 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 2.5 bpg, 21.55 PER)
Key Reserves: Kirk Hinrich, Brad Miller, Jannero Pargo, James Johnson
Injuries: Aaron Gray (out), Jerome James (out), Tyrus Thomas (questionable)
Cleveland Cavaliers:
-G Mo Williams (17.4 ppg, 4.0 apg, 0.8 spg, 15.92 PER)
-G Anthony Parker (9.2 ppg, 2.2 apg, .474 3P%, 7.34 PER)
-F LeBron James (25.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 8.2 apg, 28.67 PER)
-F Anderson Varejao (8.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 0.8 bpg, 14.75 PER)
-C Shaquille O’Neal (11.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 1.4 bpg, 17.90 PER)
Key Reserves: Daniel Gibson, Delonte West, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Jamario Moon
Injuries: Leon Powe (out)
Team Efficiency Stats
Chicago Bulls:
-Off (88.0 ppg, 45.3 rpg, .409 FG%, 17.5 apg, 14.0 TOpg, Eff-94.8, Rank-27)
-Def (94.8 ppg, 42.5 rpg, .467 FG%, Eff-101.0, Rank-10)
Cleveland Cavaliers:
-Off (95.2 ppg, 39.6 rpg, .442 FG%, 21.4 apg, 13.4 TOpg, Eff-103.0, Rank-14)
-Def (90.4 ppg, 42.8 rpg, .427 FG%, Eff-98.0, Rank-7)
Previous Matchups
None
Future Matchups
- Fri, Dec 4 at Cleveland
- Fri, Mar 19 at Chicago
- Thu, Apr 8 at Chicago
Game Notes
Tyrus Thomas is expected to miss this game with the flu, which means the Cavaliers should once again have a significant advantage inside, particularly when you factor in the absence of Aaron Gray. Rookie Taj Gibson is getting his first start tonight, and it will be fascinating to see how his talent matches up with the sly wiliness and veteran experience of Anderson Varejao. At center, Joakim Noah certainly has the quickness and athleticism to hassle Shaq, but Shaq also has the size and strength to roll through him much like he was able to do against Andray Blatche and Javale McGee in the Wizards game. Brad Miller is an excellent bench player for the Bulls, but in general I foresee them having some troubles with the Cavaliers’ frontcourt size and strength. However, if Mike Brown plays Shaq and Z together at the same time in this game, that advantage will instantly be negated as the combination of Gibson and Noah are athletic enough to run circles around the Cavs’ “Twin Towers”.
Typically, the Cavaliers do struggle against PGs like Derrick Rose, and this is why the NBA is becoming such a PGs’ league, as it seems like every team now has a quick, slashing PG who can punish poor perimeter defending. Hopefully Delonte West will be ok to play major minutes tonight as he has the ability to make Rose uncomfortable for much of the night.
The Bulls come in to this game shooting a putrid 40.9% from the field, which isn’t all that surprising when you have your 2 outside shooters (Salmons and Rose) both severely struggling with their shot. Remember the Cavaliers’ first couple games, when nobody was knocking down shots for the Cavaliers from the perimeter, and their interior wasn’t playing well enough to carry the team? Well, that’s where the Bulls’ offense is at right now. Just as the Cavs at least had LeBron, the Bulls at least have Luol Deng who is quietly having another really nice start to his season. If Salmons and/or Rose can find their shot, along with Hinrich coming off the bench, it makes things easier for Deng. And when the Cavs defense has to focus so much on Deng, it can open up easy opportunities for Miller, Gibson, and Noah inside.
For the Cavalier offense, they will likely once again look to find some success from the perimeter, as they can get some open looks if Shaq is able to continue his development in this offense. It would be great to see Anthony Parker start to look like himself again. I’m not sure what it is about the Cavaliers’ SGs in the LeBron era, but to this day the only ones to play good basketball from that position have been Flip Murray and Delonte West. For whatever reason, Parker just does not look comfortable in this offense at all, and he’s really struggling with his shot and is starting to press the issue a bit. Hopefully all he needs to is to hit a couple early to regain his confidence, and even though the Bulls’ defense has been good this season, I expect that Parker may have some good looks as the 5th option in this offense.
Of course, no mismatch in this game is greater than LeBron James. Luol Deng is a good individual defender, and at times in the past he has had moments where he has bothered LeBron, but beyond Deng, the Bulls are going to have some matchup issues with LeBron. Tyrus Thomas would normally be an excellent help defender on LeBron, but if he misses the game due to his illness, I’m not exactly sure who is going to defend LeBron. The Bulls can’t afford to wear out their best offensive player in Deng by making him guard LeBron all night, and though Salmons has decent enough size to defend a lot of SFs in the NBA in the past, he lacks the strength to defend LeBron one-on-one. This could be a major problem for the Bulls.
Overall, the Cavaliers have been steadily improving on offense. The FG% is starting to rise, the A/TOV ratio is getting close to where it needs to be, and they’re creeping toward the magical 100 ppg mark. Last year the Cavaliers were 38-2 when they scored 100 or more points in the regular season. Not that this is surprising, but when you’re a great defensive team, if you can get your team average around 100 ppg, you’re going to put together a pretty stellar record. That’s the Cavaliers’ M.O. for success this year. The one area the Cavaliers are not improving on, though, is rebounding. Losing Big Z’s offensive rebounding presence has caused the Cavaliers’ overall rebounding numbers to plummet this season. The Cavs are getting killed on the boards. It’s something worth keeping an eye on, as it is pretty tough to win an NBA Championship when you can’t rebound. In the last 10 years since the strike shortened season, not one NBA Champion has averaged less than 40 rebounds per game. The Cavaliers are currently at 39.6 rebounds per game. We’ll see if the Cavaliers can take advantage of the absences of Gray and Thomas in this game and come out controlling the glass for once.
Vegas Line
Cleveland –11.5
Over/Under 192
From The Outside Looking In
Blog A Bull
Pippen Ain’t Easy
Thank You Isiah
Next Game For The Cavaliers
Friday, November 6, 2009
8:00 PM EST
Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks
ESPN, FSOH/WTAM
21 Comments
Get that oil, son.
Hey Rock, any idea why Powe was listed as DNP- Coach’s decision Tuesday night?
Is that a catch all for anyone who is on the roster and doesn’t play, no matter what their status is?
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore?gid=2009110305
Chris, yahoo just says that for anyone on the roster that doesn’t play. Look at Antawn Jamison, he’s listed the same way.
Cavs shooting guard is like the Defense of Dark Arts teacher in Harry Potter: whoever assumes the role is instantly cursed. Sorry.
Does Mo Williams count as one such PG? I think the Cavs offense is so much better when LBJ is just another player in it. Mo should be put in attack mode all the time. That’s when the offense flows. He should be, in a sense, our number 1 option. At least when we aren’t in Shaq Attack formation.
Offense is putrid.
Free throw shooting killed us tonight.
We really miss Kuester.
charles and c-webb are right. this team is not a top 4 team.
No matter how many future HOFers, all stars, and “puzzle pieces” we get.. This will always been Cleveland. These boys need to get it together… quick.
not even top 5. celts, magic, lakers, spurs, nuggets would dom us.
especially as we continue to close the door on any attempt to develop our only hope at an athletic big in Hickson…
EGREGIOUS OVERREACTION AND MOANING!!!
I’ve seen no evidence that this team can compete with the elites in this league. You can call it overreacting if you’d like, but they’re just not that good. They’re bench is below average, nobody is playing defense (including the one your site crowned as defensive player of the year after one game). Delonte shouldn’t see the floor given his..umm..felony counts on weapons charges and unstable mental capacity.
Now can they solve some problems? Absolutely. Shaq is playing well and should be getting more touches (I didn’t think he’d even be this good). LeBron isn’t playing that well at all and you know he will.
But until then, eh. They’re just not that good.
Not directly related to tonight’s game, but sad nonetheless.
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/10372/blair-10-seconds-away-from-being-a-cav
It’s not an overreaction. It’s a realization, Denny. The Cavs are not a top 5 team. I think you’d be hard-pressed to argue otherwise.
@14 – I’m sure there was a point in there, but i stopped reading after you showed you don’t understand the English language. They’re = They are. “They are bench is below average”. Idiot.
hickson is not good at all. He shouldn’t get any minutes until he can show that he can calm down and make rational decisions when he gets the ball.
I.E. not shooting from college 3pt land.
We really need to see the end of th Shaq and Z on the fllor at the same time experiment
Despite squandering opportunities on two straight possessions to take the lead at the end of the game they still had the ball with a chance to win. It is mind boggling after all these years, Mike Brown still doesn’t have a couple of good set plays for game ending situations. Yet again it was give the ball to LeBron and let him try to go 1 on 3/4/5 to win it.
@ 14 – Turnovers and poor free throw shooting lost the game. Two things that are out of the norm for this team.
Another thing – what you really meant to say was misdemeanors. Not felonies. It’s been on a couple news stations and websites, you can try validating your b.s. statements before you take a stab in the dark.
I’m sure you’ll be back to praise them the first time they win a big game.