| 23 April 2010
Above is another terrific fan-made video of the Bulls gut-checking the Cavaliers last night. Check the title of the video. Gotta love it.
Today is a great day. A great day indeed. You know why today is a great day? Because today is the day that all the Cavalier fans who haven't won a single championship in a gazillion years and don't know what it's like to be a winner start getting nervous. All I'm hearing is excuses. Guess what. THERE ARE NO EXCUSES.
Let me explain to Cavs fans why you lost last night. The answer is simple. Because your team really isn't anything special. Your tean will get absolutely demolished by Kobe and company, but that's besides the point. Let's talk about last night's game.
Here is a direct quote from my Bloguin colleague Brendan Bowers of the Cavalier blog Stepien Rules:
"But saying all that, the Cavs played hard for a quarter and a half in road playoff game and lost by two, so take it for what its worth."
I don't know what game you were watching, but try telling LeBron that the Cavs only played hard for a quarter and a half. I think he might beg to differ. And what kind of so-called "championship caliber" team only plays hard in a playoff game for a quarter and a half. Give your team (and my team) a little more credit. They played hard the entire game and simply got outplayed. Blaming it on the effort is a very weak excuse for your team simply not being able to knock down shots. Sorry, pal. And by the way, didn't the Cavs win 60-plus games this season? Should it really effect them whether they're playing on the road or at home? Sounds like another poor excuse for a team that's supposed to compete for a championship this year.
Amazingly, the Bulls duplicated their effort from Game 2 and this time were able to turn into a victory at home. In fact, the Bulls once again were able to get 20 or more points from three of their starters, except this time, instead of Noah getting 20-plus, it was Hinrich. But one of the reasons we were actually able to win is because while Noah didn't get 20-plus, he did convert a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds, as well as 5 assists, a steal, and 2 blocked shots.
It's honestly amazing how much of a difference Kirk Hinrich makes. Unfortunately you can't really rely on him, but when he scored 20-plus points this season, I don't think the Bulls have ever lost. He was huge during that last 3-game stretch to close the season, and he was absolutely huge again last night. Kirk finished with 27 points on 9-12 shooting from the field, including 4-4 from three, and 5 assists...including this little dime to Joakim Noah.
He also only had 1 turnover. In fact the Bulls backcourt of Rose and Hinrich only combined for 1 turnover. Keep in mind that they played a combined 81 minutes. And this is against the so-called "best defense in the league". Gimme a break.
Speaking of Derrick Rose...YOU CAN'T STOP HIM LEBRON, YOU CAN ONLY HOPE TO CONTAIN HIM. I'm sorry, but the highlight of the game for me was when Derrick took LeBron off the dribble and drained a fadeaway in his eye with LeBron gliding past him on th left side. I wish I had the video of it. It was duurrrrrty. Okay yeah, Rose put up an airball on the next possession, but we can pretend like that didn't happen. Rose finished with 31 points and 7 dimes, and oh yeah, was that 0 turnovers? Why yes, I believe it was. Good effort, LeBron.
Let me just add a direct quote from my boy Brad Miller via KC Johnson's Twitter account...
Brad Miller, on what it meant for LeBron to switch onto DRose: "It just showed he was kicking their ass."
And what about this dime from Joakim Noah (also via KC Johnson)?
On Bron guarding DRose: "He didn't really do a great job. DRose was giving him buckets."
Buckets. Haha. He was giving him buckets. Period. Noah does not suck. He's just dropping gems left and right, haters.
Let's not forget about Luol Deng. For this, I refer to my boy Stacey King:
Luol did him dirty. That one's gotta sting. LeBron...you got punk'd. HAHA. LeBron looked all like, "Um...what had happend was...huh?" Deng finished with another big 20 point performance, and the Bulls need him to perform like that each and every game to be competitive in this series. And that's been Luol's major issue in the postseason...consistency.
Listen, the difference in the game was obviously the shooting percentages. The Bulls shot 50% from the field while the Cavs only shot 43%. The Cavs were lucky it was even that close. In fact, it was that close for two reasons. The first being that the Cavs knocked down 14 three-pointers. That is an absurd amount of three pointers. The Bulls only attempted 12. The Cavs? 35. How do you attempt 35 threes? The Bulls can't even attempt 35 threes in a week-long stretch. And they knocked down 14 of them. And that's exactly what the Bulls are missing. They need three-point shooting of the Cavs' caliber. But hey, we got 5 last night...and we'll take it.
The second reason it was that close is because the Bulls couldn't knock down free throws in the final minute. Hinrich, our best free-throw shooter, clanked both of his. Derrick went 1 of 2. Luol Deng went 1 of 2. Only Brad Miller made both of his. This allowed the Cavs to have opportunity after opportunity to bring it closer and closer instead of the Bulls just being able to put the game away. If we make 2 of the 4 that we missed in the final minute, this game is over waaaaaaaaay before that LeBron three, or that Mo Williams three, or that Anthony Parker heave. So don't flatter yourselves Cavs fans. This game really wasn't as close as the final score makes it seem.
The Bulls pulled this one out with a huge team effort. They got major contributions from their best 3 players...Rose, Noah, and Deng...as well as from their x-factor, Kirk Hinrich. Not too mention Brad Miller came in with 10 points and 5 boards off the bench and made Shaq work a bit. And can I just say that Shaq totally sucks. Except for Game 1, he's been totally outplayed by both Joakim Noah AND Brad Miller. He's awful. How can you chant Noan Sucks, Cavs fans? You should be chanting Shaq Sucks. He's letting your team down. Anyway, I said we needed more contributions from Hinrich and Miller in my last post, and we got 'em. And that's a major reason why we won.
However, I do think Vinny isn't utilizing Hakim Warrick enough. There was a stretch in the 4th quarter where Vinny didn't want to put in Joakim Noah because he had 5 fouls, and Taj Gibson looked absolutely gassed and wasn't really getting it done defensively, either guarding LeBron or Jamison. Vinny decided to bring in Noah with a lot of time left in the 4th with 5 fouls. Why not try to work Hakim Warrick in a bit so that you can at least give Taj a breather and spare Noah a few more minutes. It's not like Hakim isn't totally useless, so I'm not exactly sure why Vinny has exiled him. Maybe he forgot that it's Warrick and still thinks he has Tyrus Thomas? I could see it...the playoffs can drive you crazy. But I do applaud Vinny for his usage of timeouts last night. The Cavs ran out, while the Bulls finished the game with a twenty to spare. You don't see Vinny out-maneuver an opposing coach very often, but I must say I think he got it done. I even like the foul on Varejao late in the game to prevent LeBron from launching a miracle three that he seems to hit with his eyes closed. At least Vinny's starting to do certain things right.
But basically, the Bulls were knocking down shots at home, and the Cavs really struggled from the field in stretches, and that allowed to the Bulls to create separation in the first three quarters. Even LeBron couldn't pull this one out for them. Bottom line,I don't think this Cavs team can win the title. Why? Because the Bulls can play with them. LeBron is an absurd physical specimen with other-worldy basketball skills. He's a clown, but his skill level cannot be refuted. And that's why this team competes. But so is Derrick Rose, and at a very important position, and that's why the Bulls match up well against the Cavs. And if the Bulls can compete with the Cavs, which I predicted they'd be able to do (SORRY JEFF VAN GUNDY, but you have no idea what you're talking about), then no way can the Cavs truly compete with the West's elite. Not even with LeBron's 4th quarter heroics. Sorry Cavs fans. And personally, I cannot wait for the Cleveland Sucks chants (which were louder than the Noah Sucks chants in Cleveland) on Sunday afteroon at the UC. And oh yeah, Cleveland does suck...it's not an opinion, it's just a fact of life. Get 'em, Jo.
