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NBA Playoffs: Game 2 Now Must Win for Cleveland Cavaliers

By Luke Sicari

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Game One of the Cavs Vs Bulls series was very much like a microcosm of the Cleveland Cavaliers season, as the roller-coaster game saw a number of momentum swings and big shot after big shot. It is amazing to think then, that the Cavaliers didn’t lead once for the entire game, ultimately falling to the Chicago Bulls, 99-92 in Cleveland on Monday Night.

The Cavs have experienced numerous ups and downs over the past nine or so months and on Monday Night, it was much of the same, as they clawed back from multiple double-digit Chicago leads, only to allow the Bulls to build up the lead over and over again. The Cavaliers continually showed fight and determination in Game One but failed to have the necessary execution down the stretch that would have given them the victory. Cleveland could easily point to the face that two-fifths of their starting line-up was missing in Kevin Love and J.R. Smith but Coach David Blatt isn’t having any of it, per cavs.com, “No excuses. We just didn’t’ start well enough and we just didn’t play well enough to win the game.”

Blatt hit the nail on the head with his statement after the game, as Cleveland simply didn’t start with the intensity needed (the Bulls were up by as many as 14 in the first quarter and 16 early in the second, their largest lead of the night) and didn’t play the way they needed to, which is highlighted by the Bulls shooting 50% from the field, compared to the lousy 42% served up by the Cavaliers, to win this ballgame.

LeBron James knows that the Cavs must start and play better in order to even the series at one apiece, per cavs.com:

"“For us, we had a bad start obviously and we can’t afford to do that in game two in order to even the series up. It could have been just us being out of rhythm for eight days, it could have been what the Bulls were doing – it was a little bit of everything, a culmination of everything. They got off to a fast start.”"

The fact that James brought up that Cleveland had been off for eight days is interesting, as Blatt admitted, per Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, he was “concerned” over the same thing just a few days ago. It wasn’t any ordinary eight days either, as the Cavs had to patiently wait to see who their Semifinal opponent would be and they had to deal with the emotionally and human aspect of losing one of their “brothers”, as Kyrie Irving explained to Haynes, in Love. Along with the human aspect of the freak injury, the Cavaliers of course had to figure out how they would play without Love (and Smith for the first two games). While the Cavs were resting, the Bulls were in a surprisingly tough series against the Milwaukee Bucks but put them to bed with a 54-point smashing in Game Six. These factors resulted in the Bulls fast start, as they looked like a team coming off a challenging first round and the Cavs looked like a team who had been off for over a week.

Despite all of this though, the Game One loss to Cleveland has put all of the pressure solely on them for Game Two and it has made that game on Wednesday Night a must-win.

With all of the roadblocks in Cleveland’s way, they simply cannot afford to go down 2-0 in this series. They have already lost home court advantage and we saw the affect on what going down 2-0 in your home building can have earlier in the playoffs, when it happened to the eventually swept Toronto Raptors. The Cavs looked slow and lethargic at times on Monday Night and all of those qualities need to be eliminated once Wednesday Night rolls around. Only 16 teams in NBA history have come back from 2-0 deficits and while it is highly unlikely the Cavs would become the 17th.

A few things need to happen for Cleveland for to win Game Two and here are just a few of them:

  • The pick and roll defense needs to be improved immensely. Chicago’s screenplay killed Cleveland, and no, not the type of screenplay you see in Hollywood, in the opening game, as the Bulls had way too many open jumpers and lanes to the basket. The Cavs like to switch on pick and rolls and they have had some success in doing it this season but it won’t work against the Bulls. At one stage, Cleveland’s switching pitted Tristan Thompson on Derrick Rose and Irving on Pau Gasol, late in the final quarter. While Thompson has the ability to guard smaller players at times, asking him to guard Rose late in a close game is a disaster waiting to happen. Plus, if Rose couldn’t get a good shot up, Gasol would easily beat Irving in the post. The pick and pop also was a gem for the Bulls, as Gasol got open jumper after open jumper. Gasol shot 62.5% in Game One and without Love, Cleveland needs to focus on stopping him more closely and James understands this, per cavs.com, “Obviously Pau (Gasol) is a great mid-range shooter; that we found out tonight. He made us pay. We have to go back to the drawing board and see ways that we can be better with that particular play – when Pau is popping to the elbow and making those shots.” The playoffs are all about adjustments and the Cavs will need to make a few on pick and roll/pop defense heading into Wednesday Night.
  • The Cavs had to play off some rust in Game One and that resulted in a lot of open shots being missed, evident by their 42% shooting percentage. The three-point shot in particular has been a weapon for Cleveland this season, as they ranked 5th in the entire league in three point shooting percentage. This was far from the case on Monday Night though, as Cleveland clanked three pointer after three pointer on their way to shooting a shocking 26.9% from three, 7 from 26 to be exact. James was 0 from 3 for the night from deep, Irving struggled going 1 from 5, while Matthew Dellavedova went 1 from 4 and veterans Mike Miller and James Jones also had a rough shooting night, as they were 1 from 2 and 0 from 2 respectively. While the seasoned duo they didn’t take many shots, as floor spacers and three point shooters, they need to take and make more. The Cavaliers don’t necessarily need to make any adjustments for their shooting going into Wednesday Night, as many of the shots were open and good shots. They simply need to convent of their chances.

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  • Even though the Cavs do need to make more shots and the offense didn’t look terrible in Game One, too many times they fall in love with isolation basketball. Cleveland had 17 assists on 34 made field goals on Monday Night, a number that needs to be improved on. Now of course, if a few more of those open threes fall, the numbers look a lot better but Cleveland still went to ISO ball way too often for a playoff game. TNT had a graphic with James and Irving during Game One and it read ‘HEROBALL’ on the top. While it makes for a nice headline, it needs to stop. Yes, at times you give the ball to two of the most talented scorers in the league and let them go to work but it cannot happen over and over again in the clutch. If the Cavs want to win Game Two, they cannot relay on their isolation talent and James understands this. James isolated way too often in the final quarter and it led to him settling for jumpers and a couple of uncharacteristic turnovers. James was aware of this after the game, as Bleacher Report’s Ethan Skolnick reported:

Game One was ultimately a disappointment for the Cavaliers and if they want to have any chance to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, Game Two is simply a must-win.

Next: Report: Tristan Thompson Starting Tonight