Game 1 was kind of an ensemble cast for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Game 2 was a Hollywood blockbuster, featuring a leading man in LeBron James’ sizzling shooting, a co-star in Jamario Moon, and a villain in Joakim Noah.
In the end, the wine and gold overcame a sloppy first half a porous defense throughout the night to take a 2-0 games lead in the best of seven series, topping Chicago 112-102 at The Q.
James had the outside shot working, hitting 16 of 23 from the floor in route to 40 points to go along with eight rebounds and eight assists. The Bulls made a conscious effort to keep LBJ out of the paint, so he simply scored over them, hitting a variety of jumpers in an unbelievable shooting display.
In a game where the rest of the roster seemed out of sync, Moon stepped up. He played 20 minutes, which he probably didn’t even expect, and hit four three pointers, as well as grabbing some big rebounds in the fourth quarter when the Cavs pulled away. He even blocked a Noah shot at close range.
Despite being booed because of disparaging remarks about Cleveland, Noah played a tremendous game, scoring 25 points and grabbing 13 boards. He had numerous offensive rebounds and put backs, helping to account for the fact that the Bulls took 22 more shots than the Cavs.
Those extra 22 shots are the reason the Bulls were able to stay in the contest.
For Mike Brown, the victory came with a ready made teaching opportunity for his team during practice leading up to Game 3, Thursday night in the Windy City.
Chicago made an effort to attack the basket and unfortunately, the wine and gold defense parted like the Red Sea in biblical times to take it easy for them. The Bulls wanted to play an up tempo style of game, and Cleveland wasn’t ready for it.
Derrick Rose, Flip Murray, and Luol Deng got to the basket very easy, and when they missed Noah and Taj Gibson were there to clean up their mistakes. That problem has to be resolved by Thursday night.
Of course, the Cavalier offense aided the Chicago running game by throwing the ball away too frequently. It was a good thing the Cavs tightened up this aspect of the game in the second half, particularly in the fourth quarter, when Cleveland pulled out the victory.
So, the defense has to improve and so does the defensive rebounding. The Bulls led the NBA in board during the regular season, and Cleveland needs to make a concerted effort to stop them from getting second shots. If the Cavs can control this, they will have an easier time with Chicago as the series continues.
A good sign for the Cavaliers is the play of the Bulls. It is doubtful all of their key players (Rose, Noah, and Deng) can play this well on the same night again in the series. They all had outstanding games last night, and Chicago still lost by 10. They also turned the ball over just four times.
The most concerning thing about game two was the lack of defense showed by Mike Brown’s team. That is the area the coaching staff emphasizes the most. The players know they will have to have a better effort in this regard both Thursday night and throughout the playoffs if they want to carry the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Last night’s performance wasn’t good enough to beat teams better than the Chicago Bulls.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 