Watch Indians pair of right-handed power bats each take Chris Sale deep
April 9, 2016Indians trade Ramsey, Walters to Dodgers for cash considerations
April 10, 2016Cleveland Cavaliers (56-24) 102
Chicago Bulls (40-40) 105
[Box Score]
The Chicago Bulls need to win their final two games and the Indiana Pacers need to lose the rest of their games in order for the Bulls to sneak into the playoffs. The Cleveland Cavaliers better get on their knees and pray that doesn’t happen.
Saturday night in Chicago, the Bulls defeated the Cavaliers 105-102 to take the season series from Eastern Conference’s top team by a 3-1 margin. The Cavaliers still need one more win or a loss by the Toronto Raptors to lock up that top spot, and with the Cavaliers’ capacity for blowing games, that’s no sure thing. But should the Cavaliers eventually secure that top seed, the Bulls have to be near the top of the list of the teams they don’t want to have to play.
If the Cavaliers’ starters could just play the Bulls’ starters for 48 minutes, it wouldn’t be a problem. The Cavaliers played great in the first and third quarters of this game, but every time the bench units squared off, it was the Bulls who took advantage. In the fourth quarter, after the Cavaliers lead turned into a deficit, the starters weren’t able to quite get the game back.
Cleveland had their chance in the final minute of the game. Trailing by three, the Cavaliers forced a Bulls miss and JR Smith secured the defensive rebound and was fouled, sending him to the line with eight seconds left on the clock. JR made the first and then intentionally missed the second. After getting his own rebound, Smith perhaps could have gone back up for the layup to tie the game, but he instead dished it off to Kevin Love who found Matthew Dellavedova wide open for a potential game winning three. The shot was an airball, though, and the Bulls got the rebound and hung on for the win.
The Cavaliers just keep blowing lead after lead, game after game. The NBA has always been a game of runs, but the Cavaliers are proving themselves to be a pretty flawed basketball team. It would be nice to write this all off. This game meant more to the Bulls. The Cavaliers are just coasting into the playoffs. Cleveland will turn it on in the postseason. This team has shown moments of really great basketball in recent weeks, this game was an aberration. All those might be true, and they might be excuses. Either way, it’s tough to feel good about the way this team lost this game.
This season started with the Cavaliers losing to the Bulls on opening night. It was omen for a trying season. A lot can still happen in the Eastern Conference standings, but for the Cavaliers, a first round matchup with the Bulls just might be the least desirable outcome.
Either way, lets look at the numbers in this game.
- 44 to 11 – There’s no other place to start, really. If there’s one reason the Cavaliers lost this game, it’s because the Bulls bench outscored Cleveland’s 44 to 11. The Cavaliers’ leading bench scorer was Channing Frye with six points, which tied the two lowest scoring members of the Bulls’ bench. Cristiano Felicio scored 16 points, more than the entire Cavaliers bench. Sure, Cleveland was without Iman Shumpert and Mo Williams, but this was an ugly performance by the bench no matter how you look at it. All five of the Cavaliers starters finished on the positive side of the plus/minus ledger, while all of the bench players finished minus-10 or worse.
- 29.41% – Kyrie Irving is struggling right now. Actually, he’s been struggling for much of the season. After a strong shooting performance last game, there was hope that he had turned the corner. But in this game Kyrie once again had an abysmal shooting game, going just 5-for-17, or 29.41 percent from the floor. You could see Kyrie’s confidence fading as the game went on, with Irving routinely passing up shots he would normally take, instead trying to get others involved. Kyrie did have a team-high 8 assists, which is great, but the Cavaliers need Kyrie to find his shooting touch again before the playoffs start.
- 13 vs 7 – Kevin Love once again got off to a tremendous start in the first quarter. Kevin had 13 points in the first quarter, including hitting on three of his five three-point attempts. The problem is, he only scored seven points in the remaining three quarters. This is another somewhat interesting/disturbing trend. It’s great that Love has been getting off to hot starts for the Cavaliers, but the team needs to find ways to keep him involved all game long. Although, Love did have perhaps the best posterizing dunk of his career.
https://vine.co/v/iTqTZFb7P2D
- 40 – The Cavaliers attempted 40 three-pointers against the Bulls Saturday night. This was the 7th time this season that Cleveland has attempted 40 or more threes, going 4-3 in those games. The Cavaliers’ 19 makes in this game was the most they’ve had in any of their 40-plus attempt games. A lot has been said about this team’s love of the three-point shot. Shooting a lot of threes is a great way to be a streaky team, though, and in the Cavaliers’ case, when they start blowing leads, the offense gets very stagnant and the shooters just stand around the perimeter and wait for the ball, rather than being an active part of the offense. This creates a self-sustaining slump machine. Quite frankly, this is a team that is going to have games and moments where they thrive on it, and they are going to have games and moments where it feels like they can’t get away from it.
The Cavaliers have just two games left, both at home. One is against the Atlanta Hawks, and one is against the Detroit Pistons. Just one win secures the No. 1 seed in the East. The question is, who will they play in the first round of the playoffs? The Bulls certainly hope it will be them. Fingers crossed it won’t be.
10 Comments
Not us worry, because the reason for the season-long ennui is …
-They’re bored, right? Everybody but LeBron is just so sick of regular seasons because all the writers and they’re own extensive playoff resumes tell them the championship round awaits them. On a rolling cart, like the other swag in the locker room.
– Kyrie is not a “point guard,” he’s a GUARD you morons. So stop dumping on him, stop obsessing about regression, about his Curly Neal routines and subsequent turnovers. Also, he’s barely 24 and what was your ‘tude like at 24, big shot? Were you coachable?
– They just need a few more minutes between Blatt’s toxic failure to hold stars responsible and Lue’s feisty attitude remedy. Patience, let that magic sauce slow simmer, boys, and soon enough that He Played/He Gets Me magic will knock the give-a-crap meter way to the right. Almost done. Any day now.
Funny how we keep telling ourselves the Cavs will flip a switch in 2 weeks like no team we see around us. The other talented teams bearing down at season’s end, even last year’s Cavs, just suckers. I’m guessing at season’s end we’ll hear about major chemistry issues, but in the mean time there’s some bad odors coming from this kitchen.
I watch games like this and say to myself “Championship? Not happening.”
It’s a full on lowering of expectations, for me.
This team is a chore to watch. Never thought I’d say it. LeBron James and a gigantic payroll too. Just not fun.
We don’t have to wait til the end of the season to see chemistry issues. We can see them now.
LBJ likes to play with his friends. We’ve seen how he migrates to his buds every chance he gets. Did you see any Cavs on that banana boat? Nope.
I still stand by my idea…swap KI for CP3 and watch the entire dynamic change.
And please people, don’t go into the whole player/stat/record comparo. This isn’t about analyics. This is about a happy LBJ being a championship LBJ.
Stu Jackson admits JR Smith was fouled on his last second three point attempt to tie the game. As if that helps. Just makes me even more excited for the playoffs to start with these officials.
http://cavaliersnation.com/2016/04/10/nbas-stu-jackson-reveals-missed-foul-call-j-r-smiths-potential-game-tying-three/?utm_content=bufferb1a33&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
If I traded Irving the one guy it would be for would be CP3 of course I am biased because I’ve always been a CP3 fan. I fear Cavs won’t make it past ECF and if that happens I’d say not only is David Griffin’s position in jeopardy but so is Kevin Love’s. I think Love needs to be moved UNLESS a trade at PG occurs.
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TRADE LEBRON AND KYRIE AND LOVE FOR WIGGINS AND FIRST ROUNDERS! FIRE DAN GILBERT!
…seriously though, this is a crappy loss. This team annoys me.
AND DON’T FORGET TO FIRE LUE!
Cavaliers vs. Atlanta Hawks 2016 :Live Stream: ====>>> https://tr.im/WU0w0