Crown the King: Cavs vs. Bulls Game 2: Behind the Box Score
May 6, 2015
LeBron says his headband “was just in my locker” (Video)
May 7, 2015
Good morning, Blawg Pound, on this glorious Thursday morning. The Cavs won, the sun is shining, birds are chirping, and my lower back pain is dissipating, which means that spring golf is hopefully in my not-too-distant future. I’m shorter on time and content than usual, so let’s jump right into it.
Of course, we have to start with the Cavaliers. Certainly, things are looking much better for the wine and gold than they did just 24 hours ago. By virtue of their 106-91 victory over the Bulls in Game 2, the team got the split they so desperately needed, and head to Chicago Friday with Earl Joseph “J.R.” Smith back in the saddle. Since the Game 1 loss, I had this impending feeling of doom, one that had not fully left my side since the Kevin Love injury in Game 4 of the Boston series. The Cavs had their backs planted firmly against the wall by a hot shooting Chicago Bulls squad with a potentially lame duck coach that had nothing to lose. The supporting cast had thoroughly failed to replace Love’s production and Smith’s three-point shooting (with the exception of Iman Shumpert), and LeBron didn’t look like LeBron.
Then, in the course of two nights, I was reminded of how open this mad dash with eight teams to the finish is right now. All four series are 1-1 as the four favorites all lost homecourt advantage. If the Warriors, losers of just two home games all season like the ’09 Cavs, and the hot-shot Hawks didn’t hold serve, then I shouldn’t feel as bad about the ailing Cavaliers failing to do so after a long lay-off. It’s wide open, LeBron thrives on the road in the playoffs, and the Cavaliers still have arguably the best 1-2 punch going and definitely the best one in this half of the bracket.
Instead of lamenting the loss of Love and the hole that losing J.R. put us in1, I’m impressed by the galvanization that has taken place. The bench supplied everything the Cavaliers needed and more on Wednesday night: offense, defense, toughness, energy, and just solid minutes period. Whether you look at Dellavedova, Jones, or Perkins, they all had an impact on this pivotal game. That doesn’t even mention Iman Shumpert, who let’s hope is headed back to only a bench role rather than a spectating one after his groin injury in Game 2.
This team has its gaps and its weak spots, but there’s no team left kicking that’s been through this rodeo before and knows all the steps. The mighty Warriors and Hawks haven’t played in a conference finals before. In fact, the Bulls and Grizzlies are the only two teams that have players left from a conference finals trip (Rose/Noah/Gibson in Chicago, Randolph/Conley/Gasol/Allen in Memphis).
This thing is wide open, and despite the crap hand they’ve been dealt, the Cavaliers are staying all in, and so am I.
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Out of all the events in the three sports that I cover, none leaves me feeling less informed than the NFL Draft. It’s why everything that Joe Gilbert, Michael Bode, and others on the site have done over the past weeks and months is all the more impressive to me. I watch a good amount of college football, but with everything else I watch, I’m just not able to make the deep dive that these guys (and frankly, some of all of you) do on these prospects.
What I’ll say about the Browns draft is that I like it overall. You weren’t going to get a franchise quarterback in this draft without making a silly, one-sided trade (and to be honest, I don’t think you would have gotten one even with such a deal). Instead, the Browns built from the inside out, and they showed us they are going to try to be a Pettine-inspired, nose-bloodying bunch that wins low-scoring affairs by stopping the other team, and by picking up more than their fair share of first downs on the ground. Until further notice, I’m good with that plan. It’s the best Ray Farmer, Mike Pettine, and company can do from this day going forward with all of the other cards already sitting on the table.
Everyone knows you need the quarterback, but there was no need to triple down with a bad trade and try to recover from the mistakes of Weeden and (apparently to this point) Johnny Manziel. The team used their picks, got better, and they get to evaluate the quarterback prospects again next year should Manziel confirm that he’s not the guy.
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Several of us WFNY writers geek out about writers and their writing. Everybody has their short list of idols. I’m not usually as outwardly vocal about it as others are, but one of my short list writers is Ramzy Nasrallah with Eleven Warriors. There are few scribes that can entertain and inform as smoothly as Ramzy does. In addition to being an excellent writer, he’s an A++ tweeter that always leaves you thinking “Dammit, that’s so perfect, I wish I would have thought of that!”
In my blogosphere, Nasrallah is that cool kid that always knows exactly what to say and how to deliver that sting that doesn’t go away if you’re anti-Ohio State. His article about this year’s upcoming Michigan State game, “The Undercard” is a must read. Click on it if you don’t click on anything else today.
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I’ll wrap with this. Joakim Noah apparently couldn’t help himself last night and said something stupid about Cardale Jones, Ohio State, and the SEC. Noah must not have had the newspaper read to him the day after Ohio State beat the best God’s gift to college football had to offer in Alabama 42-35. That’s the thing with heels though. They don’t have to make sense. I usually let this stuff get to me, but the absurdity in the face of cold hard facts in this instance leaves me cackling with laughter. Noah has other things to worry about, like his whopping four points in nearly 60 minutes of action this series while being guarded by the likes of James Jones and Mike Miller.
- Because there’s little doubt in my mind that we win Game 1 with a couple of those Jones and Delly misses turning into Swish makes. [↩]
23 Comments
Ok, I may be the resident WFNY pessimist on this Cavs team. I still think the Cavs are probably going to lose this series to the Bulls. I just feel that the loss of Kevin Love is too much for them to overcome over the course of a seven game series. Winning last night was awesome. But I don’t feel that recipe is sustainable for the rest of the series.
But having said all that, you’re spot on. This thing is really wide open. And what do I know, anyway? Lets bring this full circle back to Cardale Jones. When JT Barrett went down, I said there was no way OSU would beat Wisconsin, but even if they did, there’s no way the committee would put them in the playoffs. Wrong and wrong.
Then I thought, ok, beating Wisconsin was fun, but this Cardale thing is not sustainable. There’s no way they can beat Alabama. Oops. I was even still pessimistic about their chances against Oregon. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the concept of losing two QBs in one season and still winning a Championship with the third string QB.
And that’s why sports are one of my favorite things in the world. You just don’t know what’s going to happen. Logic doesn’t always need to apply, no matter how much we continue to try to quantify every single last thing about sports. At the end of the day, sports are really just a measure of talent, athleticism, and force of will. Losing Kevin Love is a tough blow, and it’s now going to be very hard for the Cavaliers to win a title this year. But it’s not impossible. These players absolutely might use their will to overcome the loss of talent. At this point, anything can happen, and that’s the thing that continues to give me hope.
Kirk, thank you for not wasting our time with the stupid headband. Your admirable restraint represents sportswriting for adults.
The headband is to cloth what Tebow is to everything else. So naturally, the Plain Dealer is all agog over it. Idiots.
Um, you might want to avoid the next article that was already posted. Awkward…
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/008/282/awk-moment.gif
Thanks, J. Got it covered.
hi Kirk … excellent observation on the browns & the draft !! i too would like to tip my cap to Joe & MG.
Thank you kindly, Joe deserves many more props than I as he spear-headed the coverage all draft season. I just popped in at the end to add in my notes and thoughts. Mere decoration around the house that he had already built.
The thing that should give you hope in this Bulls series is that Chicago just is not very good. They have many players that are good at specific things, but Pau, Noah, Rose, and Hinrich are all shells of what they once were.
Jimmy Butler evolved into what they had hoped, but isn’t a player that they can lean on against LeBron.
The Bulls are honestly the perfect matchup for the Cavs given the options at this stage and I don’t see them losing.
for once I disagree with you, Andrew. After seeing Rose unable to sustain his excellence and realizing that Noah has very little left in the tank, I think it’s the Bulls that have to play their very best the rest of the way to win it. The Cavs took the Bulls’ best shot in game 1. Noah used to be the heart and spirit of that team, but I think the Bulls are freaking out over Tristan’s rebounding and LeBron proved that Jimmy Butler can’t slow him much. We tend to focus on the Cavs, but feels to me like the Bulls have some chemistry problems that are manifesting themselves in uneven effort game to game.
Add to this the dissension between Head Coach, Front Office and Ownership and it makes the Bulls an even murkier situation than everyone holds them to be.
Make no mistake about it; the Bulls are VERY beatable.
I honestly don’t know how both of you guys do it. Very impressive.
http://cdn3.teen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/emma-watson-birthday-april-15-2014-hermione-granger-gifs-prisoner-of-azkaban-3.gif
Split in Chicago, win Game 5 and end this series in 6 games.
Joe did a fantastic job …
Drafting 12 guys, and if some of these young guys can make impacts, I can feel a lot better next year to make a small move to get a QB if needed. We could potential have 3 x 5th round compensatory picks from losing FA this year.
WHAT ABOUT THE WELLS REPORT!@??!?@?!@!
I’m not 100% sold the Cavaliers as currently operating can win a seven game series verse the Bulls but I will stick with my original prediction that the Cavs lose in the ECF verse Atlanta.
Bunch of innuendo and no proof at all. I just read an article showing texts between Brady and the equipment manager and while it appears as if something fishy was happening it didn’t prove anything. NFL will end up with another black eye by the time it’s done.
Hey, something we actually agree on. I would have loved to see Brady hang, but the “proof” is pretty weak sauce. I know people will hate on the Patriots for this, and they deserve it, but man… the league just looks so incompetent. You’ve got these rules on the books and don’t even enforce them. And anyone can apparently break those rules and you have nothing in place to police them. WTF? If a few pounds of pressure can influence a game that much, why do you let a bunch of team employees handle the balls? Just idiotic. I’m curious to see what the punishment is.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/cavs-show-poor-judgment-with-in-arena-video-featuring-domestic-violence-144435139.html
Way to many “writers” on the Internet these days looking for something to give their opinion on like Dan Devine who says the Cavs spoofing a commercial during a skit at last nights game was domestic violence.
OUTRAGE
I never understood how game footballs could be used by individual teams I always thought the league mandated them like MLB. I also read/heard/saw something where a former Browns QB (yes even one of them) said he had footballs tailored to his liking. Whatever that meant.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/reminder–brad-johnson-paid-for-super-bowl-footballs-to-be-doctored-142642094.html
Agreed. It sounds like something most teams do.
All I know is that whatever comes of this, it’ll be a sh*t show. Thanks, Roger.
I don’t understand why teams get individual bags of balls. They are asking for this to happen. Have 1 bag and both teams pull from them (actually referees pull from them). It is not hard and I don’t understand why teams cannot have a bigger range of PSI in the first place.
But, it is a rule and it’s evident that they did cheat. I don’t think they found enough to get Brady suspended or lose draft picks though.
They had this as a topic on PTI for crying out loud.