Cavalier Film Room: The Fault in Our Stars

The Cavaliers, despite the struggles from their All-Stars in Game 3, had a great chance to steal homecourt back from the Bulls. Derrick Rose and his banked three at the buzzer made sure that did not happen. However, I feel that it’s a good sign that the wine and gold’s role players and defensive gameplan had them that close to victory on the road. The Cavaliers must take Game 4 for any realistic shot at taking the series, but they are well within their abilities to do so. Let’s breakdown some of the plays that the Cavaliers’ stars didn’t make and the Bulls’ stars did.

We begin with the frightening development of LeBron James’ jumpshot leaving him. In this early offense look, LeBron is guarded by Jimmy Butler. Tristan Thompson, covered by Taj Gibson, sets the pick.

James dribbles left and launches a deep and contested (by Gibson) three with 14 on the shot clock. The best thing about this play is Thompson sprinting to the basket for a potential offensive rebound. For those keeping track, James was 1-of-7 in this game from beyond the arc and 5-of-32 for the entire playoffs.

This is the demons of the past returning to James and the Cavaliers. Tom Thibodeau and other coaches have sagged off of James, going underneath screens and daring him to take long jumpers. When LeBron is not hitting these shots, he cannot let them win by settling. This was a forced prayer early in the shot clock, and there was not a single pass on this possession.

The most frightening thing that Chicago has picked up on is James’ desire to get the ball to his teammates for open threes. James has been making repeated jump passes, turning the ball over after leaving his feet. The Bulls are daring James to attack them and carry the entire offensive burden. So far, it’s been a pretty good strategy.

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The other cold reality is Iman Shumpert being slowed by his groin injury from Game 2. On this possession, he’s guarding Derrick Rose, and he gets screened by Taj Gibson. Gibson sets a great screen (much better than those moving gems from Noah), and Shumpert has to spin back left to recover on the driving Rose.

He recovers, but then he bites for a Rose shake outside of the paint. That leaning and inability to recover gives Rose his angle to the basket. Shumpert’s swipe for the ball fails. Rose finishes on the right side of the rim as both Thompson and James are both late to help.

In Game 4, it’s going to be absolutely vital that the wine and gold keep Rose outside of five feet from the rim. When he does get there, they can’t follow him, and they must force him to shoot with a hand in his face and a body between him and the hoop. Perhaps it’s Matthew Dellavedova, who has been marvelous in his role during this series, that stands the best chance of carrying the Rose covering burden. Or, maybe it’s the longer frame of LeBron James. At this rate, Butler may be an easier cover for Shumpert.

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We move on to the most terrifying thing for us Cavs fans: the foot injury that is currently slowing Kyrie Irving. On this possession in the final two minutes, Irving is guarded by Rose. James is playing the role of screener here, but the ball never leaves Kyrie’s hands. The two seem to not be in sync with what should happen on this play, but James ends up setting an elbow screen that frees Kyrie to the hoop.

With his explosion metered, Butler switches off James and meets Kyrie. His step-through crossover move is a half-second slower, and Irving misses the shot, as he did all nine of his two-point attempts.

If Irving’s explosion is gone for Game 4 and beyond, it doesn’t do the Cavaliers any favors to have the ball in his hands for most of the possession. What they should look to capitalize on is his three-point shooting, which did not seem to fail him (3-of-4 in Game 3, 17-of-37 overall in the playoffs).

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Now, we move to the two baskets that won the Bulls the game. Mike Dunleavy inbounds to Derrick Rose out high. The ball gets passed to Jimmy Butler, and J.R. Smith switches with LeBron James off the Nikola Mirotic pick, and Smith picks up Butler.

Butler gets the angle going baseline with his right, but Smith cuts off what looks like Jimmy trying to finish on the other side of the basket. Butler throws on the brakes (AND TRAVELS!!) and doubles back to find nobody helping on that half of the floor. LeBron James, sagging off of Mirotic, is caught in no man’s land, helping nobody, standing in the middle of the paint. In the final minute of the game, the team should have been selling out to get the ball out of Butler’s (and Rose’s) hands. This is just another example of LeBron being a fairly terrible and lazy help defender this season.

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And finally, the perpetual nightmare of the last 48 hours, the Derrick Rose shot. The Bulls deserve the highest degree of credit for their improvisation on this play. Dunleavy inbounds, hoping to get the ball into Rose in the corner. Covered by Shumpert, he’s cutoff from getting to his ideal spot.

Taj Gibson, meanwhile, is a roving screener, starting with Butler, then working way to Rose. LeBron is on Butler, but he’s attached to him, preventing a pass there.

Gibson screens away for Rose, screens farther away for Butler, then doubles back to get Rose free out high once the ball is passed up high. Shumpert is joined at the hip with Rose, but Gibson sets the screen way beyond the three-point line, and it’s flawless to free up Rose. Thompson does everything in his power, given time and score, to challenge the shot. He doesn’t fall into the trap of standing on the three-point arc and putting his hand up. He’s one full stride beyond, and he leaps as Rose goes up with the shot, full extension, and tries to block the shot without fouling.

Rose is forced to throw it up with a higher release than he normally would, drawing the bank shot situation because of it. Thompson shows why he is one of the best big men to track a guard in the league, but sometimes good (and a little bit lucky) offense beats good defense.

So, to recap, in Game 4, the Cavaliers will need LeBron to put the three-point shot away, Kyrie to capitalize off the ball rather than with it in his hands for the entire possesion, and the Cavs need to more effectively help on Rose and Butler in crunch time.

Until next time, the film room is closed!