Video: Watch Taj Gibson kick Matthew Dellavedova, get ejected
May 12, 2015
LeBron, Kyrie, expectations, and playing a role: While We’re Waiting…
May 13, 2015
Many accused the Cleveland Cavaliers of gaining a split through the first four games of this series largely with smoke and mirrors. It seems like everyone has been either out of the lineup or slowed due to injury. In Game 5, however, the 1-2 punch of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving returned to the wine and gold and carried them through. After a heated exchange, the Cavaliers extended their lead to seventeen only to have it shrink to two in the game’s final moments. The Cavaliers held on thanks to free throw makes and a critical offensive rebound by a 106-101 margin to take Game 5 and control of the series 3-2 as it heads back to Chicago on Thursday night.
Chicago Bulls 101
Cleveland Cavaliers 106
0 – There is absolutely nowhere else to begin but with ZERO turnovers for LeBron James in this game. That’s right. In one of the most critical games of the season, with the ball in his hands for nearly every possesion of the 40:56 he was on the floor, James did not commit a single miscue for the FIRST time this year. I absolutely loved LeBron’s approach to attacking on offense in this game. From the early going, James took Chicago’s Jimmy Butler down into the paint and abused him by using his body to create space for mid-range shots. James scored 38 points on 14-of-24 shooting, by far his best shooting clip of the playoffs. LeBron added 12 rebounds, six assists, three steals, and three blocks that included a vital block of Bulls guard Derrick Rose with under one minute to play as he attacked the bucket against Matthew Dellavedova. After all of the talk of efficiency (or the lack thereof) following the Game 4 win, James was able to speak positively about his efficiency in the post-game. Of LeBron’s 38, 18 of those points came in the paint, and he took just five threes.
Here’s a relieved James on his lack of turnovers:
25 – Kyrie Irving scoring 25 points and hitting 9-of-16 shots on two legs fighting him at every stride is nothing short of amazing playoff poetry. Despite the pain clearly still having its effects on him, Irving seemed to be able to create slightly more separation with his handle and on his shot attempts. With this Irving, the Cavaliers have a chance against anybody left standing. Kyrie was able to shoulder a big portion of the offensive burden, leading the team in touches (90) and passes (65) by a small margin over James. Kyrie was able to find his way to six uncontested shots and knock down all but one of them. In this game, much like Game 2, the ball did not stick, and isolation ball from beyond the arc was held to a minimum.
Some more from Kyrie postgame:
1 – One pest and one ejection, courtesy of Matthew Dellavedova’s scrappy play against Taj Gibson. Delly checked out Gibson on a Bulls shot attempt, and Gibson shoved him violently in the back as Delly lunged forward and hit the deck. As Delly went to get up, he locked his legs around Gibson’s, which caused Gibson to kick Delly in the hindquarters. Gibson received a flagrant two and the automatic ejection, and if the foul is not downgraded by the league, he will have three flagrant points heading into Game 6 in Chicago, and will be one flagrant one foul away from an automatic one-game suspension. With the Bulls in danger of being without Gasol in an elimination game, the play of Joakim Noah and Nikola Mirotic will be magnified further. Noah posted 10 points and 9 rebounds in what was probably his best game of the series, and Mirotic posted 10 points on 2-of-7 shooting. One of those two field goals was from beyond halfcourt at the third quarter buzzer immediately following a huge momentum-snagging corner three by Dellavedova. 29 – Jimmy Butler was brilliant in this game, and his outside shooting nearly stole this game for the Bulls after they looked dead following the Gibson ejection. The Bulls forward had 14 fourth quarter points, hitting three-point shots with 2:56 and 1:18 remaining that sliced the Cavs lead from eight to two. Butler had 29 overall on 9-of-18 from the floor to go with his nine rebounds. He fueled the 24-9 Bulls run that almost stunned the Cavs. 38:56 – Four players for the wine and gold saw at least this much floor time. They were Tristan Thompson (38:56), Irving (39:25), James (40:56), and Iman Shumpert (41:52). Echoing the sentiment from what I said about Irving, it’s marvelous to see Shumpert log that much time with a sore groin that is limiting his lateral movement. The biggest play of the game was Shumpert rebounding James’ miss with 19 seconds left. Shumpert grabbed the offensive board off a tip and caught the basketball at its highest point, going up and kicking it out top to Irving, who went to the line and made two free throws. What say ye, Shump?
7-of-24 – The Cavaliers did a very solid job on Derrick Rose as he made just 7-of-24 shots for 16 points. Rose had nine rebounds and seven assists, but he logged nearly 43 minutes, and he made just three trips to the foul line. After appearing to injure his right shoulder on a loose ball, Rose was a relative non-factor as Butler and Dunleavy largely carried the offense down the stretch. Rose had 12 points in the first on 5-of-9 shooting, but he was just 2-of-15 over the last three quarters. Is the heavy offensive burden as well as the big minutes finally catching up on Rose?
12 – The Bulls shot under 40%, and a big reason for that was the Cavaliers blocking 12 of their 86 shots. Seven of the nine Cavaliers that played blocked a shot, and they were led by three each from James and Shumpert. The Bulls continue to have trouble putting the ball in the hole outside of their starting perimeter players. Gibson made his first three shots then missed eight of nine to close the game.
40.7 and 34.9 – These were the net ratings for Matthew Dellavedova and J.R. Smith in this game. The Cavs’ (albeit shorter) bench drastically outplayed the Bulls shortened bench (due to the Gasol injury and Gibson ejection) of Hinrich, Snell, Mirotic, and Brooks. Not a single Cavs starter had a positive plus-minus figure, but the team was plus-18 with Smith and plus-11 with Delly.
19 – Mike Dunleavy had his first impact game since the first of this series, popping in 5-of-8 shots and hitting all seven free throws for 19 points. Dunleavy is averaging 12.2 points in the series, but the Cavaliers have been able to minimize his three-point stroke with just nine makes. There has been the occasional lapse in accounting for the sharpshooter, but overall, the Cavaliers have done a decent job in tagging the Bulls’ best outside threat.
12 and 10 – Tristan Thompson continues to make life a living hell for the Bulls interior. Collecting his second double-double of the series, on top of the raw numbers, it’s what he did to draw extra bodies to him on the boards to open up second chances (like the one Shumpert snagged), draw fouls (six for the game, second only to LeBron’s 10), and make all three baskets he attempted in the fourth quarter. Thompson’s toughness and consistency have been a calming influence for a frontcourt that has had to deal with going smaller frequently due to the loss of Kevin Love. Mix in with that the uneven performances of Timofey Mozgov (tonight was a forgettable one point, six rebound, three turnover performance in 23 minutes), and Thompson has been the unsung hero of these playoffs for the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers will look to close out the Bulls on Thursday night in Chicago and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the fifth time in franchise history. If that game plays true to this entire series, it will be anything but easy or predictable.
***
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45 Comments
Never been a big Thompson fan, but this series was made for him. He has been invaluable to us down low, and has outscrapped Noah and Gibson, both usually the best on the court in that style of play.
Wait so you need four flagrant points to be suspended for a game? I thought I read somewhere you only needed three, but I’m not sure.
If I had one criticism in this game it is the same one I always have. Please Lebron don’t hold the ball late. I get wanting to run some clock off but just start your offense later in the lock. I hate seeing dribble, dribble, and a missed shot on a bad attempt. Absolutely love TT and Delly. And watching Miller and Lebron cracking up watching the replay of Delly antagonizing Gibson had me rollin on the floor. Great win guys!!
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That Miller Lebron clip was great.
I just found the official press release from the NBA to the media about how flagrant foul suspensions work. The language they use is that any player who EXCEEDS 3 points will be assessed a suspension. If the flagrant 2 for Gibson stands after NBA review today, he will be sitting at 3 points, so no suspension.
Of course, JR Smith got two games because of a swing at a player’s face. I suppose the NBA could determine a kick to the ass could be worthy of one game, but I doubt it. I think he plays tomorrow.
As one analyst, um, analyzed, the Cavs’ D is not collapsing as much on Rose. When he gets inside, he has to try to score on CLE’s bigs because their outside shooters are covered. Rose has to prove he can do that, to shake up the CLE D.
If anyone else had a game like James had, he’d be the talk of the country. It’s just the high end of typical for him. So much there. One thing that hasn’t been mentioned much is his getting 2 quick fouls on Butler.
So did KI get some cortisone, or what. I think one of you guys predicted that. I know of no other explanation for how he was able to move last night.
Also, again as someone somewhere noted, on that last, huge offensive rebound: Delly tipped the ball back BUT TT was occupying 3 Bulls at the time. LOVE TT.
Anyone got a link to a clip of Miller and James laughing at Delly/Gibson?
I laughed when i heard the guy who pushed someone down and kicked him accuse others as “classless.”
Not sure who shot up Kyrie and Shumpert with horse tranquilizers, but nice going. If they can both stay at about this level of pain-limited movement, the Cavs will be all right.
I have nothing but great things to say about last night. Even though I was incredulous that the Bulls came back in the 4th, that’s my own subjectivity. The Bulls have a roster of experienced alphas who aren’t about to play dead in the 5th game of a tied playoff series. I’m trying to appreciate a wonderful thing that’s apparent now: there are no Mo Williams on this roster. A few months ago we worried how the young guys and newbies would react under pressure but not a single one has the deer-in-headlights look. Hell, Tristan is strutting around and barking like he’s the sheriff, like a younger version of Perkins. They are loving this pressure, which bodes well if they move on.
Oh, wait, there was a negative. DON’T THROW CRAP AT PLAYERS. There are dozens of cameras for this series, we saw replays, the Cavs know exactly who threw that. They better have thrown him out. And don’t give me that “old school” crap. Don’t defecate on my city while the cameras role. If you so desperately need negative attention doo-doo on yourself and post it on YouTube.
I honestly thought that, once the Cavs got up by 17, they took the foot off the gas, and it was much, MUCH too early for them to do that. They stopped running any semblance of offense, and their defensive effort sagged a bit. Once things started moving, as always, it’s tough to flip that switch back on. It was maddening.
“DON’T THROW CRAP AT PLAYERS.”
And if you need a really great reason why that’s a terrible idea, remember what happened when somebody threw a drink on a player in Detroit on November 19, 2004.
1. Boy do I hate Rose.
2. I find myself laughing when Lebron has his way and does what he wants on offense. He is a train.
3. KI has such a sweet shot. Hard to have him out there hurt, but he was 9-16 shooting. 3-6 on 3pters. He is also the guy we want taking free throws to close it out too.
4. Thompson is a beast
5. How did we get Shump and JR? Love watching those guys, and this team!
good points. This is the Mozgov factor: he completely lost his shooting touch, couldn’t even buy a tip-in or complete makeable alley-oops, and yet profoundly influenced what the Bulls dared do.
LeBron is getting tons of love in the national media this morning. But still, I’ve never seen a guy both as strong, athletic and resilient to the affects of injury in the NBA, maybe in any sport (maybe Bruce Matthews in the NFL is up there?). I mean, Karl Malone was a muscular load but was out with injuries all the time. If LeBron ever crumples and stays down it will be like someone actually killed Superman.
I’m really disappointed that no one, anywhere, is giving credit to Blatt. We started out very slow, and the team adjusted. Good coaches can do that. It seems every time we lose, he is on the hot seat, however when they win, not a peep. I think he is a good coach, and win or lose, I hope he is back next year.
Welcome to the majority of professional sports. Win? It’s the players. Lose? It’s the coach! He’s a bum!
yes, even Jordan lost much of a season to a leg injury
5. How did we get Shump and JR and Moz.
ANSWER: BY GIVING UP TOO MUCH.
—National Media.
This is true, but LeBron is responsible for a lot of that. When the Cavs are up by 6 or so late 4th quarter of these games you can see him look at the clock and stop the show. This is the control he’s demanding, like he only trusts himself to ice things with step back jumpers or drives. I’ve screamed “RUN THE OFFENSE!!” way more than once in this series. I don’t know what to say other than he’s done it to other coaches and teammates and if this is the price for having LeBron at the middle-end prime of his career – that he stops the show to try and win a playoff game – I’m not happy but resigned to it.
AMEN
One instance that stuck out in my mind was a chased-down offensive rebound in the corner that gave them a fresh 24, and one pass later someone jacked up a three with about 22 seconds on the shot clock. With a large (at that time) lead late in a critical playoff game, that ball needs to go back to the top to either bleed another 20 seconds off the clock, or to run some offense and set up a better shot.
It just felt, to me at least, that the Cavs assumed it was over and they could just chuck the ball up and goof around for the balance of the game. Maybe in a meaningless game in December or January, but not in Game 5 of a playoff series.
Don’t forget Spoelstra got raked through the coals for 2 seasons until they finally had the trophy.
Hopefully Blatt is dealing with it behind the scenes as well as he seems to on the surface.
TWO FIRST ROUNDERS FOR MOZGOV?!!!! You know, the type of mid to late first rounders that might have been used for a Sergey Karesev and JJ Hickson. And one of which just came in the Smith/Shmpert trade.
yeah right. we traded waiters (and second rd pick) for shump and JR AND a FIRST ROUND PICK.
I would take JR or shump for waiters any day.
Moz was to fulfill a need. The first round pick we got from thunder and traded prob wont mature for at least a year, and then if Durant pops town it deff won’t mature until it gets to 2 x second round picks
That and other stuff, including suddenly losing track of Butler. But let’s be fair – very few exhausted teams who built a big lead after wild momentum swings could so perfectly pull off the step-on-the-neck routine. This is a first year playoff team. Not the Spurs of 5 years ago or the early-90s Bulls. They’re figuring it out right now and may have learned something from the comeback just last night.
Malice at the pallace
Boy I was ready to roast him if they lost. I didn’t think KI should have been out there on D. That is the reason Dunleavy was hitting those shots.
I was annoyed with J.R. Smith’s defense in this one. He had a really hard time figuring out who he was supposed to be guarding at various times. Although there was one time when Smith shouted for LeBron to switch with him on a screen, LeBron flat-out ignored him, and the open player got an easy dunk. That kind of communication needs to be better to be an elite defense.
Fortunately that was one of the first comments LeBron made in his post-game conference. He apparently knew that he needed to quell the idiocy in the media. He gave credit to the coaching staff for a great game plan.
Ha, I was annoyed that J.R. immediately inserted himself into the Taj-Delly thing. The assistants really need to fit him with a child restraint leash lest he be tempted to act as the “peace maker” in every incident. Clearly, he’s incapable of applying what he’s surely been told – he’s a marked man in the NBA, by opponents who might egg him on and the league which will have to ream him for any additional nonsense or even perceived nonsense.
“Those t-shirts don’t carry much of a wallop.”
-Carmen Policy
I was pulling my hair out during that stretch, not just b/c of the offensive slow-down (and I swear I could actually hear the screech of the brakes being applied) but losing Chicago’s three-point shooters again and again on transitions off missed shots. Bulls had 4 or 5 wide open shots from distance.
He’s more like Wolverine with his ability to heal instantaneously.
TT won me over this season and especially this playoffs. But I have been calling for him to come off the bench for years. Finally he has his role.
Hang on…James Harden kicked/footed LBJ in the groin during the regular season and was suspended one game. I’m curious to see what the NBA does with Gibson.
the picks are not likely to be as high as the ones used on Karesev and Hickson
I know, the point was for familiar illustration purposes only, friend.
and mine meant as a sarcastic add-on. should have used the sarcasm font 🙂
Well, this was hardly a groin kick. Let’s be real.
A kick is a kick if anything Gibson kicking Delly while Delly is flat on his face was a punk move. Gibson wasn’t simply trying to remove his leg from being clenched otherwise why did he go to stand over Delly while being held back? If that’s not enough watch the entire play watch the screen Gibson sets on Delly then watch as Delly attempts to block him out the forearm shivver Gibson delivers which resulted in Delly being on his stomach face down on the court.
Who was he going to play behind prior to this season?
He was also ejected and, thus, missed a portion of the game. Harden was not, so just due was made.
That was part of the problem they had no real starting caliber PF until Kevin Love. Go back and check the records my stance has not changed.
Have a nice day.
Well, wait, “a kick is a kick” but then you’re applying all of this other context to it by including all of the other stuff. If a kick is a kick, then nothing that happened beforehand is relevant to the suspension-worthiness of the kick. And, to me, a kick to the nuts is always top of the “punk move” charts, but that’s only a matter of personal opinion.
I know Delly is apparently a choir boy, but Harden’s kick to James’ nuts was much less provoked than Gibson’s kick, IMHO. I mean, if we’re only talking about the kicks themselves. LeBron was going to for the ball, for a tie-up. Delly actively leg-locked the guy. It’s hardly apples-to-apples, IMHO, both in terms of the provocation and the actual kicks themselves.
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