Preview: Bulls at Cavaliers, April 19th
2010-04-19What the Bulls need to do to win:
-Keep LeBron James frustrated. LeBron got his points in game one, but had a hard time finding consistent success in half-court situations and never settled into a passing groove. If LeBron’s on his game, the Bulls might not have enough talent to keep up with Cleveland.
-Pray the threes don’t fall. The Bulls did a good job collapsing the paint, but left the Cavs’ shooters open beyond the arc. The Cavs missed most of their looks in game one. The Bulls have to hope that trend continues.
-Do a better job containing Mo Williams. When Williams can’t get anything going off the dribble, the Cavs become much easier to stop. In game 1, he was able to get to the spots he wanted to get to.
-Get Derrick Rose to the line. Rose had to work for every one of his points in game one. He needs some easy baskets in game two if the Bulls want to have any chance of putting up points.
-Attack the Cavs off the dribble. It’s not a perfect plan, but the Bulls have to at least try to make Cleveland’s bigs move their feet instead of settling for deep twos.
-Get Luol Deng going. Not sure how, but it’s hard to win with your best wing going 5-15 from the floor.
What Cleveland Needs to do to win:
-Keep playing defense. The Cavs had a dominating defensive effort in game one. If they can keep that up, they’re in great shape.
-Get LeBron James going, especially in the half-court. Not the hardest thing to do in the world, but something to focus on.
-Use Shaq inside early. The Bulls can’t stop him without fouling. That could mean lots of time in the bonus.
-Make threes, as discussed above.
-Get something out of the two-guard spot. Delonte and AP both need to step up their efforts on the offensive end.
-Don’t let up. Doesn’t matter if it’s a 40-point lead. You do not want to take ANY chance of the Bulls stealing home-court. The Cavs say they’re hungrier than ever before. They should show it by leaving no doubt if they get up big.
-Don’t let Noah get you out of your game. This isn’t a time for vendettas, cheap fouls, and harmful techs. The Cavs have bigger goals than the Bulls in mind this post-season. Let it go and play the game.
-Use Mo to free up LeBron. The Bulls defend LeBron well in ISO situations. They can’t stop Mo off the dribble. Use Mo’s penetration to get LeBron some catches on the move and easy baskets. Wouldn’t mind seeing the playoff debut of the Decoy pick-and-roll/Kraken tonight. (Darn you, Shaqken. I had a good Kraken thing going.)
Recommended Reading:
Notes:
I may be doing some Daily Dime Live tonight, but I’ll also be contributing to the live-blog at Cleveland.com. I’ll definitely be there pre-game, post-game, and maybe during halftime, with some DDL sprinkled in during commercial break. See you there.
I said this baby was going 6 or 7 and the only responses I got were “Hey, a tough series would be good for this team.” Now that we know the series is going to be somewhat tough..no1 wants it. I don’t get it. We aren’t going to blow this team out. Not going to happen. This is not the talentless and old Detroit Pistons. It just isn’t. This is a team, that when healthy, has three legit players, one of which is the best player at his position in the East. We will not cruise through these first two… Read more »
I’m glad they won, but not encouraged by the victory. I keep imagining what happens when the other team is Orlando. They were fortunate Lebron was en fuego. However, that kind of outside shooting night is not sustainable.
I hate to be negative after a victory. That said, they looked all world in the first two series last year… Hopefully they just need to get into rhythm.
Game 1: Good defense, bad offense. Average LeBron, above average teammates.
Game 2: Bad defense, good offense. Below average teammates (not Moon), UNREAL LeBron.
I’m not saying the Cavs can keep winning playing like this, but they can beat Chicago this way.
story of the game was: great on offense…horrible on defense…
we have to fix the latter by Game 3 or Chicago will take one and get some momentum back…I wanna sweep this f’n team as quick as possible so I dont have to see Noah’s face after this weekend..
Reggie Miller gave out a “Bad Moon Risin” for Austin Carr on Jamario’s last 3
I realize that we all know that. But still
Goddammit, LeBron is fucking inhuman.
@Chris UK. yeah i saw that and was sad :(
but MOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Playoff Kracken =Fail!
Just to be clear here. Flip Murray came in the 1st half and proceeded to score 10 points in about 5 minutes with Delonte guarding him. Flip has continued to get where he wants in the 2nd half.
Delonte is an absolute no show on defense for two straight games. Absolutely need more from him than this..and if he doesn’t pick it up it might be time to look for Daniel Gibson later in the series. Can’t wait for Delonte to get his head on on right.
This game is straight up ugly. LeBron has one dunk and the rest of the team decides they can stop playing defense.