Westerlund: 5 Thoughts After Game 2 Of Bulls-Cavs
By Cody Westerlund--
(CBS) With a 106-91 win Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena, the Cavaliers evened their second-round series against the Bulls at 1-1 ahead of Friday's Game 3 at the United Center.
Here are the observations of the night.
1. Two central themes of the 2014-'15 NBA season collided Wednesday, and it was easy to predict what would follow after seeing just a few minutes of action.
Cavs star LeBron James was a man with a plan and something to prove. Meanwhile, the Bulls showcased right away how they can turn into their inconsistent selves with little warning or explanation.
The result was a 33-point, eight-rebound, five-assist night for James and a game that featured no lead changes and Cleveland leading by double digits for the final 42 minutes.
"The way that we came out, it was kind of like a non-chalant type (thing)," Bulls guard Derrick Rose said in his postgame interview streamed online. "The intensity wasn't there right from the beginning, and we let them get where they wanted to go right away. Defense -- defense was the key, and we kind of let them go anywhere they wanted to go. There wasn't ball pressure."
James hadn't trailed 2-0 in a playoff series since 2008, per ESPN Stats & Info, and he wasn't about to Wednesday. He'd hinted a day prior that he'd be more aggressive, and he was, shooting 13-of-29 while generally trying to just bull his way to the hoop.
James' teammates followed his lead and capitalized on the space he created, and it was never a contest. Role players James Jones (17 points) and Iman Shumpert (15 points) came up big.
"You got to take your hat off to them," Rose said. "Everybody on the team followed right behind him."
2. I noted after Game 1 that a concern moving forward for Chicago was all the space Cleveland had found in the pick-and-roll, despite its loss. That contributed greatly to a 23-of-42 shooting performance by the Cavaliers in the paint, where they held a 46-24 advantage in points scored on the Bulls.
Chicago's problem continued in Game 2, as its interior defense didn't provide enough resistance. Cleveland shot 21-of-38 in the paint.
To be fair, Kyrie Irving is a world-class finisher for his size and James is a powerful train whom no one wants to get in the way of, but the trouble persists. In general, the Bulls aren't doing enough to affects the Cavs' shots at the rim -- or the help just isn't getting there in time, leaving Jimmy Butler in a tough spot.
This matters because the best way to slow James down is to turn him into a jump shooter. He made 13 field goals Wednesday, and nine were dunks or layups. It's not a winning formula for the Bulls.
"You need your whole team to be committed," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "He's a tough cover. If you're not tied together, he's going to make you pay, and he did."
3. Despite liking him in the sixth-man role, the Cavaliers started Tristan Thompson at power forward, sending Mike Miller back to the bench after his starting experiment didn't work out in Game 1. Thompson didn't have gaudy stats – five points and 12 rebounds – but his mobility helped slow/deter the Bulls' pick-and-pop game that was so effective with Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol in the opener.
With Thompson guarding him to open the game instead of the bigger Timofey Mozgov, Gasol never got going. He had just 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting after 21 points on 10-of-16 shooting in Game 1.
Interestingly, Rose thought the Cavs' offense has as much to do as their defense with taking the Bulls out of their offensive rhythm.
"When you're down 20 right away, you're trying to play quick, you're trying to get out in transition," Rose said. "You're in a hole. The game totally changed. You're trying to do new things and just trying to get everyone together. It just didn't work for us."
The defensive adjustment on Gasol was a smooth move by Cleveland coach David Blatt. Now the focus shifts Thibodeau's way to make an adjustment to get the Chicago offense better chances when it's not raining 3-pointers in.
4. You should always process statistics based off small sample sizes with a large grain of salt, but a Rose trend is emerging that's hard to ignore in these playoffs. In the four games he's played with two or more games of rest, Rose is averaging 24.3 points on 48 percent shooting while adding 6.8 assists against 2.8 turnovers.
In the four games he's played with one day of rest, Rose is averaging 14.0 points on 30 percent shooting while adding 6.8 assists and 4.8 turnovers.
"He's still working his way back," Thibodeau said.
In watching him under the two circumstances, there's no physical difference in Rose that's apparent to the naked eye. On one day's rest, he's still made a point to go to the hoop and probe the defense; he's just not doing it as effectively.
Then again, with a player like Rose who possesses a shaky jump shot, it only takes a bit of fatigue to throw off a shooting rhythm, and who knows how his perceived physical state affects the impossible-to-quantify confidence level on any given night.
In a surprising development, Rose hasn't attempted a single free throw in three straight games now. Asked about it, Thibodeau gave a long pause, then a jab at the officials.
"I guess he's got to go harder," Thibodeau deadpanned in his postgame news conference. "I don't know. It looks like there's a lot of contact to me, but obviously, others don't see it that way."
Moving forward, Rose will have to simply step up. This series has one off day between contests all the way through Game 6. A silver lining is that if the series goes the distance there would be two days off before a deciding Game 7.
For his part, Rose wasn't buying the rest narrative.
"I can't think about that," he said. "That's something that I think you all made up or something."
5. I don't really think there's reason yet for either team – or its fan base – to be overconfident or cynical.
A 1-1 split between a pair of good teams? That was to be expected. We knew the Bulls look like alpha dogs when their outside shots fall, which largely explained their Game 1 win. We knew James was the best basketball player on the planet, which largely explained the Cavs' win in Game 2. The only catch here was the two sides haven't played well at the same time.
Neither team has discovered anything the other can't slow down without some adjustments and concessions. It's just a case of which hard decision one wants to make and which squad executes the plan better.
If anything, James' brilliant play reminds us of this truth: He carries the greatest burden in this matchup, and this series is Cleveland's to lose if he continues to play at such a high level.
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.
