Recap: Bulls 109, Cavs 108 (Or, when a loss doesn’t feel like a loss)
2010-04-08Overview: Playing without LeBron James, the Cavs lost a close game to the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls were able to hold on for a 109-108 win after Anderson Varejao’s jumper fell short. Mo Williams had a season-high 35 points to lead all scorers, and Antawn Jamison added 23 points.
Cavs-Related Bullets:
-I don’t think this game could’ve gone much better. I’m glad the Cavs didn’t tank, but I’d rather see the Cavs play the Bulls than the Raptors in the first round. (Why? Shaq. The Raptors frontcourt has given Shaq some problems on defense, and the Cavs will be trying to work him back into the lineup. I want as few variables as possible in the first round.)
-This was about as well as the Cavs can play without LeBron offensively. They moved the ball, everyone was aggressive, and they knocked down tough shots.
-Mo was a beast. He attacked the rim for layups or drive-and-kicks throughout the first half. Late in the game, he was nailing big jumper after big jumper. Exactly what I want to see from Mo, even if the Cavs didn’t get the win.
-ALL ABOARD THE BASSY TELFAIR WAR WAGON! He was audacious with his dribble and got into the teeth of the defense a few times. He found Antawn Jamison for an and-1 on a nice counter-motion play. His 40-foot frozen rope to Z that led to free throws was vintage Bassy. He even made some pull-up jumpers. I know he won’t play in the playoffs, but Bassy is one of the things that will make the last few games interesting for me.
I may have used this joke on this site before, but I promise I invented it for Bassy while watching a Clipper game earlier this year: Watching Bassy hit three deep twos in a row is like watching The Godfather for the 10th time and watching Sonny make it through the toll booth unscathed.
-Jamison was absolutely fantastic. He was making shots from everywhere inside, and hit a bunch of those deep twos that I hate. Hopefully his foot contusion won’t keep him out for long.
-The Cavs’ final possession caused me to have an unfortunate NBA Finals flashback. That is not the look you want.
-Both the Cavs and the Bulls were raining deep twos on offense. This wasn’t the Cavs’ best defensive effort, but the Bulls were also hitting a ton of shots the Cavs generally concede.
-An example of when “stretching the floor” works when it shouldn’t: the ball gets swung to Z at the top of the key. He shoots about 30-40% from there. The Bulls close out. The ball goes to Jamario Moon behind the arc. He’s a 30% three-point shooter. He gets closed out on, freeing up Andy for a dunk.
-Moon, Telfair, and Jamison combined to go 9-11 on deep twos. The “Dear God, why?”-angle offense was working tonight. I know that was horrible.
Alright, that’s about all I have for tonight. Have a good weekend, campers.
Nice posts, John… keep up the good work. I must admit that watching Andy pump-fake and then AVOID the foul was vintage Andy taking on (defensive MVP) Tim Duncan in the ’07 Finals. May we never see that one again!
I wanted the Cavs to win until I saw Jamison walk off limping – at that point, I wanted all the scrubs in. We’ve waiting too long in this town to have an injury derail our championship aspirations. oliveria is probably a raptors fan. It amazes me how angry the Toronto fans are. It’s unfortunate what happened to Bosh, but honestly I don’t think they would have beaten the Cavs at home had LBJ rested then anyway. They still control their own destiny. If they win out they are the 8 seed. @Everyone else. I was singing “tonight’s the night”… Read more »
I think oliveria was mad because lebron didnt sit against the raptors but sat out against the bulls, this means that bulls had a higher chance of winning unlike the raptors, even if the game was close
and how you guys dont realize her perspective i dont understand..
Good game, I hope we sit Bron, Mo, Jamison, Andy and Z until the playoffs. Why risk any of them getting hurt – there is nothing to gain by playing them but a heck of a lot to lose.
also let’s not forget one of the pivotal reason they won is because joakim noah stepped up and hit a long jumper down the stretch.
that’s an acceptable way to lose.
GREAT game, to lose. The only problems were the lack of defensive intensity, and an inability to draw up a sane end of game play with two shots at it. However, Mo was open when he came off that screen at the end, and I think he was so surprised he was open, he didn’t shoot. Then the second option was Andy? Oy. Z was WIDE open, and a better option than Andy. That aside, there were a lot of positives. Moon massively outplaying Jawad was right up there. Jawad must have given MB back his incriminating pictures to lose… Read more »
@oliveira….. except that mike brown did win coach of the year….last year…. logic fail….
anyways. transitioning back to the world of logic and reality….
i think this was a good “high level practice” game except for antawn’s (hopefully) minor injury. it’s encouraging to see the cavs still able to compete with a potential playoff team without 4 of its 5 best players playing in crunch time (the 5th being mo of course). this bodes well for our future. lets all not forget chicago absolutely HAD to win this game! that speaks a lot to the quality of our backup players.
See this is exactly what I was talking about. Give a child a computer and suddenly they are the meanest dudes on the block. SUCH A JOKE
@oliveira: you’re crossing the line hoping guys are hurt and out for the playoffs. why all the hatred toward cleveland? sorry we’re excited about our nba team, who by the way has the best record in the league. mike brown didn’t want andy to take those last shots; that obviously wasn’t the play. you’re making empty comments on the wrong website. next time you make a comment, at least try to sound semi-intelligent. as you said… “keep on sucking ! !”
@oliveira: “Mike Brown is such a genious (sic) that he wouldn’t ever win coach of the year.” YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID.
Mike Brown is such a genious that he wouldn’t ever win coach of the year. Cavs played a team below .500 and couldn’t beat them? anderson takes 2 shots at the end? This is the example of great coaching? Would the Cavs have such a great record without LBJ? Don’t think so… Hope Tawn is hurt too from his ankle rolling yesterday. About Cleveland mediocrity… it’s not just a shadow, it’s more like an eclipse that has engulfed the city. If you look up sports team mediocrity in a dictionary, you’ll see several Clevalnd teams mentioned. have they won anything… Read more »
Hey, maybe it is just me, but does anyone else think thtat sebass could run an offense better than mo and mo could become a jason terry like player?
I know the game didn’t matter and all but ugh that last offensive series was bad. Would have loved to see Z get a chance to make a game-winner and he was wide open the whole time. Fortunately in the playoffs I don’t see Andy touching the ball in that situation…
Hey, what do you mean ‘YOU people?’
Sorry, just thought I could lighten up this thread a lil bit.
Man there are a lot of negative, angry souls out there in the world. I understand competitive jabs for the fun of the sport, but some people (ESPN boards…) just take hatred to a new extreme. And check some Twitter accounts or blogs out there, people openly hoping for LBJ to suffer a career-ending injury. What the hell is wrong with people?
Colin, judging by Oliviera’s name, not to mention the absurd response to this post, i think he is a she, but you still may be right. But Calling Mike Brown useless shows that he/she doesn’t know what he/she means, seeing his record over the past few years. And vinny del negro? Secondly, if anyone in their right mind thinks the cavs are scared of the raptors or bulls in the playoffs they need a mental health check. By all means Cleveland sports have lived in mediocrity, but two years in a row with the best record have already begun to… Read more »
Oliveira must have LeBron on his fantasy team…
Since this game was meaningless, my favorite part of it was the fact that Mo and Tawn seem to be two legit scorers for this team. Throw in Shaq who can still get points, and this team has four guys who can get their own shot. Im excited.
Ditto what Isaac said. I’m looking forward to Mo in the playoffs even more after seeing what he did last night against the Bulls.
Yes, we lost, but Mo’s got to have lots of confidence after making such a showing.
Why did Brown, that useless coach, rest LBJ???
HAte this damn team and hope you guys lose in the playoffs, lose LBJ and return to the wonderful history of mediocrity.
BTW, being afraid of the Raptors in a playoff series is just a hooot !!!
One thing you didn’t mention:
Cavs: 17-24, 70.8% FT
Bulls: 16-25, 64% FT
Even though the Cavs didn’t win, I sorta loved watching those 4 missed Bulls FTs in the final minute. And it made me think that the Cavs passed their FT demons onto the Bulls. Fingers crossed! (3 of the misses were from Andy, and Mo and Antawn were perfect from the stripe).
I was thinking please pass it Andy on that last possesion!
@Feezy, Gibson sat with a foot injury. My question was: where was Powe?
Not only was Bron not playing, but neither was Delonte. Also Antwan missed most of crunchtime. This game was definitey fighting with 1 hand tied behind our backs with a blindfold… I’m sure I wasn’t the only one thinking “Why couldn’t Boobie get minutes in this game?” As well has he played before the trade and after Shaq’s injury it baffles me how he has been buried in the rotation.
The most important thing about this game for me was giving Mo some playoff confidence.