Live Thread: Cavs vs. Bulls, Game 5
2015-05-12https://soundcloud.com/dayton-radio/tom-pestak-5-12-15
Game 5. LeBron’s had some memorable ones, including “Game 5“. It dawned on me that this series is in some ways reminiscent of those early playoff series against the Pistons. Anemic half-court offense, gritty defense, possession battles, and two teams that didn’t like each other. The difference is that the relative lack of offensive firepower wasn’t due to an outbreak of debilitating injuries.
Pau Gasol will not play tonight. Kyrie Irving’s gonna give it his best. Let’s hope the Cavs found a descendant of Mr. Miyagi to fix Kyrie’s extremities, or that Kyrie developed a swan kick of sorts in the past 40 hours.
With any luck, this one won’t come down to issues of timeouts, last minute sideline plays and a third buzzer beater to end it. If the Cavs can continue to defend the Bulls the way they have been the last two games, and find some semblance of offense inside (with Moz and TT) and out (from J.R.), and LeBron can protect the ball the way he did in Game 2, the Cavs should get one big step closer to the next round.
Buckle up, this ride’s going to feel like the mean streak.
Xavier Rathan Mayes will be a good fit for Cleveland in the 2015 draft
The team really played top defense on rose ,after he started 5-7 from the field he went 2-17 the rest of the way ,I mean wow that is amazing. Reading these notes from the ESPN recap : Derrick Rose scored the first points of the 2nd half for either team… And then didn’t score the rest of the game. After scoring 14 points in the first half, including his playoff-high 12 points in the first quarter, Derrick Rose was held to two points on 1-of-12 shooting after halftime. His average shot distance was five feet farther in the second half… Read more »
Yes, great defense, but it also helped that Rose clearly hurt his wrist.
That’s true but still ,we have injuries too.I’m just glad we won
First time in a while we’ve looked like the Cavs of the 2nd half of the season. Whatever they gave Kyrie ran out in the 4th and he wasn’t moving around well.
Understandably so. Just glad we got so much out of him when we did, all things considered.
What Blatt said about LeBron and his ankle: “Did you see what happened to him last game? Most people, when that happens, you aren’t going to see them again for three weeks.”
In a different universe, I rolled my ankle mildly once at the park and kept playing on it for a while. The next morning, it was so swollen I had to hop to my car on my one good leg and drive to the town first-aid squad to borrow crutches.
I suppose most people don’t know to use ice and heat and ice etc. but I agree lebron’ ability to ignore the pain was pretty silly for game 4
CWebb had me so angry. Gibson pushed Delly in the HEAD before the leglock, and THEN he kicked him. And CWebb was obsessing over the leglock. It made no sense.
Rose seemed a bit beat up by end.
The toughness rating of Shump, Delly, and TT is 1.6 Gazillion.
Agreed. What the hell are these announcers seeing? They also complained about the extra timeout at the end of the last game, and ignored the fact that Noah fouled Lebron. These announcers are a joke.
Winner of game 5 usually goes on to win the series 81.7% of the time.
Whew! That ISO ball was ugly in the 4th. Looked a lot like Coach LeBron felt he could get away with running clock with 8 minutes left. It’s a 24 second clock!
gilbert needs to purchase each player a LEBRON NITROGEN ICE CHAMBER to assist in recovery —if it allows him to recover and produce like he did tonight think what it could do for the entire team— I AM ALL IN !!
What a win! Don’t underestimate the huge roles that Shump and TT played tonight. I don’t think Mozgoz played well, and TT kept coming up with huge offensive boards and challenged well at the rim. Shump’s huge rebound at the end to get Kyrie those 2 free throws was a huge play!
Gibson said he didn’t kick Delly, he was just trying to free his leg up and it looked like a kick.
Id say that too. Except he kicked him
What a win! Don’t underestimate the huge roles that Shump and TT played tonight. I don’t think Mozgoz played well, and TT kept coming up with huge offensive boards and challenged well at the rim. Shump’s huge rebound at the end to get Kyrie those 2 free throws was a huge play!
ESPN Stats & Info Twitter: LeBron James: 9th career postseason game with 35 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Elgin Baylor is the only player with more (
I bet we will see Gasol next game. I would be really surprised if they don’t play him.
Really believe so too, eventhough they said during the game he wasnt even feeling 50% I believe.
Honestly I have to see to believe it.
To be fair it looked like Delly locked legs with Gibson. And I love it!
Gibson had literally put the hurt on delly’s face…the leg lock was innocent and genius and if I were a Bulls fan I’d be pissed at delly but MORE pissed at Gibson for reacting.
Completely agree! Gibson also check Delly in the back of the head beforehand.
It looked like Gibson was intentionally kneeing Delly in the butthole though. He goes down before he gets up. Don’t blame Delly for messing with him in that situation.
LeBron is awesome. Kyrie must of had pain killers in the first half.
I AM PURCHASING A DEFIBULATER TOMORROW FOR THE REST OF THE PLAYOFS OR MY WIFE IS GOING TO BE A WIDOW —agreed the game shouldn’t have been that close —give the bulls credit they keep fighting —kyrie has a huge heart / has shown us in these playoffs that he has MORE THAN JUST BASKETBALL SKILLS —-is going to be very difficult to close the series in Chicago —I know this next question will get a lot of people upset ( just throwing it out there for ctb response ) do we rest our players next game and more or… Read more »
End it. We need five days off desperately
I thought the same thing. But I think it’s better if they try to win next game but if the game turns into a blow out in favor of the Bulls I think Blatt has to recognize that quickly and rest his key guys.
Or maybe rest Kyrie and try to win it without him and if that doesn’t happen you can bring him back with 5 dsys of rest.
How about Shump tonight? I feel like he does not get nearly enough love. Dude is straight gangsta!
Cavs were extremely lucky to win this game. If I were a Bulls fan, I would be irate that Gibson was kicked out after Delly locked his feet. Throwing a player out and a possible suspension for reacting to a dirty play is hard to believe given that they got to see the replay. I know the Delly lovers will give me grief, but think you would feel if Hinrich did that to TT and TT was kicked out trying to free his leg. Delly did not make a basketball play.
Delly got hit in the head/neck on the screen by Gibson and then got pushed down when going for the rebound five seconds later. Not sure that either of those were basketball plays either.
I agree that Gibson shouldn’t have gotten tossed, but he richly deserved the T. You kick a player, you get a T, and be happy you aren’t ejected, too. He was frustrated, and he got carried away.
What a game. So glad we hung on. Super defensive effort by Shump, Delly, Tristan, and LBJ in the last few minutes.
They leaned on the cushion they had built and almost let it get away.
Adam Silver needs to attend the remainder of all CAVS games. Good luck charm!
Bulls fans so defeated right now. That’s what it was like to be a Cleveland fan in the MJ days.
Oh my goodness you’re so right. was just talking with my wife about this…she grew up a Bulls fan in Chicago and remembers the cavs as “that scrappy team we had to get through” instead of the incredible machine they really were…she has since converted to a cavs fan because “a: Noah is a cheater and b: the Bulls are all weirdly ugly”
Wow…Lebron put up sick numbers, and kyrie put up maybe better ones if you factor in his injuries. Great team win….even though we should have won by at least ten and the whole Bulls mileau is a cheater’s delight. So many missed calls in this one it was borderline “clearly the refs are covering the spread”
adam silver watched that game and I’m sure he enjoyed the incompetence of the officials tonite
too close and Cavs decided not to drive to basket every time even though Bulls couldn’t stop it whatsoever….think Cavs felt game was over when up 17 and started to coast…they really need to come out like gang busters in Game 6 and close this out big time….no mercy….GO CAVS!
This game had everything. Incredible.
Agreed. So many ups and downs – I love playoff basketball!
Should have been 106-98 if not for the Mirotic prayer…
Wonder if Gibson will be suspended for Game 6?
he got ejected in 2nd half and i believe that warrants auto suspension next game
I think he needs to get two ejections to warrant an auto-suspension.
We are lucky Butler missed that open 3 when they were down 2 with 45 seconds left. Big win but didnt have to be this damn close
The only Cavs in positive plus/minus territory were Delly, JR and JFJ.
Men it should be huge if the Cavs can end this series in 6 and allow Kyrie to rest.
Kyrie showed some real heart this game. 25 points, driving layups, 3s … almost like he was’t hurt.
WHEW! They made us sweat this one…
How about LBJ with ZERO turnovers?!
That helped a lot… He didn’t try to force passes and he kept it simple.
38 pts, 0 turnovers. Good night, folks.
Ba Bye Chicago!
BALLGAME… FINALLY!!
Was that intentional miss there? Or did he just slip it off his hand.
Is it wrong that I miss Fred McLoud saying “sweaty palms time”?
Nice. I do too.
Wow, Delly made that rebound happen. Dude was huge!
Might have been TT and Delly both tipping the ball to keep it alive before Shump gathered that vital offensive rebound.
Now play D and don’t let them score quick. They’ll foul us …
What a game, my heart cant take these things lol. Playoff basketball at its best I guess
When games are like this, I find that my newly opened beer is half gone.
Rebound of the YEAR!!!
Iced it there with the offensive board.
Thank you Shumpert /Tristan
Yep. Both are getting paid come July.
they lucked into this one, horrible execution down the stretch
Delly with some heads up double fast break D on Rose to help Bron find the block!
Bulls couldnt hit a 3 in da first half, but making everything now in da 4th , sigh
I can’t believe this quarter. How do you let up like this, stop playing D and hoisting jump shots when they are down TWO big men. And where is Mozgov?!
No way this game should be this close. Just embarrassing game plan and execution in the fourth quarter…
Mozzy should have been in to protect the rim
We cannot lose this game. We should be up fifteen…
Damn, no 3s. Like a pickup game.
Even Webber said it was a travel!!
Yeah I couldn’t believe he said that lol!
My boys were arguing about who lebron could dunk on so I didn’t hear.
The answer is everyone!
Wow. That was critical.
these damn close games 24-9 run
ROSE WALKED!!!!
What did webber have to say about that no call.
Cavs making it way harder on themselves than they need to…
We need a damn stop
Too bad they can’t use the review to call the foul on Noah.
Cle crowd could honestly be doing a little better, especially compared to the last couple games.
Clearly want to win but hate seeing rose wince in pain.
Nobody on the Bulls wanted to shoot that possession.
Bad turnover by Delly.
Rose stone cold
Butler looked shocked to have the ball
My heart is beating so damn fast right now
Bulls inbound to Noah with 3 on the shot clock…