| 27 April 2010
If you want to learn about LeBron James's true character, see the video at the end of this blog post. As for Game 4...
This happened:
Then this happened:
But LeBron isn't going to shoot like that every night...so I'm gonna get to the point rather quickly here...
This series is about two things:
1) Shooting percentage. In Game 1, the final score was 96-83 Cavs. The Bulls shoot 42% while the Cavs shoot 46%. The Cavs made two more baskets on three more attempts. In Game 2, the final score was 112-102 Cavs. The Bulls shoot 44% while the Cavs shoot 56%. The Bulls actually made 1 more basket than the Cavs on 22 MORE attempts. That is a real stat. At this point you may be asking yourself what's accounting for the difference in score if the Bulls are making more buckets? That'll be point number 2. In Game 3, the Bulls won 108-106. The Bulls shot 50% while the Cavs shot 43%. The Bulls made 6 more buckets than the Cavs on 2 more attempts than the Cavs. Yet it was only a two point game. So again, what's accounting for the difference? Again...I'll be there in a minute. In Game 4, the Bulls lose 121-98. A rout. The Bulls shoot 37% while the Cavs shoot 53%. Kind of explains the rout. The Bulls made 8 less buckets on 12 more attempts. Vomit.
But as you can see, if the Bulls have a good shooting night, the Cavs are in for a dog-fight. If the Bulls shoot below 45%, it won't even really be a close game. LeBron takes too many shots for the Cavs to shoot below 45%, so if the Bulls can't at least match the shooting percentage, it's over before it starts. To have 22 more field goal attempts than the Cavs and only make 1 more total basket in Game 2 is totally and utterly inexcusable. And bottom line...the Bulls offense is awful.
2) Three-point shooting. The Cavs have made 42 3's in this series. They've had double-digit 3's in 3 out of the 4 games. In game 1 they had 6, while in the games to follow they had 10, 14, and 12. The Bulls? They've attempted 43. That's right. ATTEMPTED. They've attempted only 1 more three than the Cavs have actually made. How many have they made? 14. 14 threes all series. THE CAVS MADE 14 THREES IN GAME 3 ALONE. That's 42-14 in three-point shooting. That accounts for an 84 point difference in the score throughout the first 4 games. The Cavs have gotten 84 more points than the Bulls from three-point land. That's a lot of points. And I've been saying this all season...three point shooting really is the Bulls biggest achilles heel. Some would say low-post scoring, but I beg to differ. The Bulls make up for their lack and low-post scoring through hustling and being the best rebounding team in the league, including cleaning up the offensive glass (see Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson). But there's no way to make up for a lack in three-point shooting. LeBron has the luxury of driving the lane and being able to dish it out to (in no particular order) Anthony Parker, Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison, even freakin' Jomario Moon, and these guys just make it rain. Derrick Rose has not one guy who's capable of knocking down the open three with consistency. Hinrich did it in Game 3 and that's why we won. But Hinrich hasn't been able to put together back-to-back good shooting nights all season, and that remains a fact after Game 4, because Hinrich was awful.
In Game 4, Kirk Hinrich shot 3-13 for 10 points. That follows a 9-12 performance for 27 points, where he went 4-4 from 3 in Game 3. I said we needed Hinrich or Brad Miller to step up with another 20 point performance, because 20 points from Rose and Deng alone would not be enough. Neither stepped up. Miller had 7 points in 19 minutes off the bench. In fact, Luol Deng couldn't even reach the 20 point mark, although he didn't have a horrible night, going 7-17 for 16 points.
Joakim Noah did everything he could do and everything he needed to do to try and help his team win. His team did absolutely nothing. He matched Derrick Rose's 21 points, only Derrick went 9-20 from the field while Joakim went 7-12. And most of that came off of one of his 20 rebounds. A 21 point, 20 rebound performance for Joakim. You don't see a 20-20 game too often from a Bulls big, so it was special. Too bad it had to be in a losing effort, which wasn't even a close game.
Unfortunately, Derrick just had trouble finding his shooting stroke throughout the game, and couldn't really get into a rhythm. And with no one really being there to step up and help him carry the load, it's no wonder why the Bulls were blown out in this game. Point number one people. When the shooting percentage is down, no way the Bulls can compete. When the shooting percentage up, you look up at the box score and see guys like Kirk Hinrich scoring 27 points and the Bulls have a W. The talent on this team just isn't at the level where they can shoot well consistently. Too many streaky and inconsistent shooters. NO real 3-point shooting. While the Cavs are just the opposite. Tremendous 3-point shooting and all their shooters are remarkably consistent. And that's why they're a championship caliber team, although I still think they'll get killed by the Cavs.
Yet still, the Bulls could come out any random night and have Kirk Hinrich rarely miss, and Derrick Rose's jumper falling, etc. and maybe come out and shoot near 50%. If that happens, the Bulls become a very tough team to beat, regardless of who the opponent is. And it's happened in stretches throughout the season, and it happened in Game 3. So I guess we all have to pray for that type of game tonight. Otherwise...it's time to focus on free agency and bringing in Mr. Bosh and some other new recruits. But I ain't heard no fat lady just yet. Go Bulls.
And oh yeah...someone explain to me why LeBron has to be a **** to the Bulls' towel boy? See the video below and find out why I'm not really a fan of LeBron nor do I desparately want this guy on my team. Tool.
