Cavs Open Playoffs By Sketching Outline of “Monster”

LeBron James promised that his Cavaliers would be a “different monster” in these playoffs. With an easy double-digit win over the Bulls, though, the Cavs showed that they aren’t yet as fierce as they could be.

Through the first 23 minutes or so, all indications pointed to a huge margin of victory. The Cavs were destroying the Bulls on the boards, making threes, and getting to the line, running out to a 66-45 advantage with 9:30 left in the third quarter. Then things bogged down.

The Cavs scored just seven more points in the third frame, and went 6:13 without a point in the middle of it. All five Cavs starters had at least three turnovers, and despite every starter but LeBron shooting well above 50% on two-pointers, a bunch of clanged triples (just 6-for-23 as a team) brought Cleveland’s shooting percentage down. The lead withered to single digits before two baskets and a dime from James padded it late.

If this review seems light on the Bulls’ accomplishments, that’s because the game was, too, thanks to Cleveland’s defense. Derrick Rose led all scorers with 28 points, but needed 28 shots to get them, and superior interior defense helped the Cavs record 12 blocks in the game. But that defense was more impressive than the offense, which was great only for stretches.

It remains to be seen whether the Cavaliers can find a level of play with any one of their many Frankenstein lineups (small ball with LeBron as power forward or center, twin bigs with Zydrunas Ilgauskas and the rejuvenated Shaquille O’Neal) that can carry them through this playoffs. Today, we only saw flashes.

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