Cavs Vs Bulls Game 5: Change Is The Key
The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Chicago Bulls in Game 5 of their NBA Playoffs Series last night. Cavs Vs Bulls has been entertaining, physical and emotional. For the Cavs, winning Game 5 was huge toward their goal of making the NBA Finals.
The game last night almost gave many Cavs fans heart attacks. With a terrible 8-0 deficit where the Cavs looked out of sorts on both sides of the court. Some amazing dominate runs by the home team only to have response after response by the gutty Bulls. The emotional, physical confrontations, led by the Taj Gibson kick of Matthew Dellavedova had players and fans geared up for an amazing finish.
And that is exactly what we got. A Cavs 106 – 101 win that involved so much intrigue but the story of the game was change. Change is the sign of development and last night’s game showed how change, and lack of it, can be decisive in sports.
Before even looking at any statistics, watching LeBron last night was clearly a different player than the last few games. Instead of jab stepping a few times before launching a bad deep jumper, James was attacking the rim, shooting in rhythm and making strong defensive plays. It wasn’t that he was more engaged or putting forth more effort, he just changed his approach.
That change led to a unique stat line that put LeBron in a place of his own in NBA Playoff lore: 38 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks and zero turnovers. No one has ever had that stat line or better in the Playoffs. After games of shooting 9-22, 13-29, 8-25 and 10-30, James had his best shooting night, going 14-24. He only made 1 of 5 three pointers but still had a good shooting night.
Changing his approach led to a great game from LeBron James. And think he wasn’t happy about his performance? See his first comment, hilarious to me, as he sat down for his press conference afterwards:
There is no love lost between Cleveland and Noah but for years he was an amazing defender, active offensive player and a good passer. Injuries and high usage on the court have stripped Noah of much of what made him good/great in the past.
The problem for Noah and the Bulls has been his unwillingness to change. Noah still tries to play the way he played in years past. Yesterday was actually Noah’s best game but his weaknesses showed as the game went on. Early in the game, Noah grabbed rebounds and even was able to make shots. As the game went on, Noah got slower and could not react in time. He ended up with 4 turnovers and 4 fouls and struggled to provide the kind of help needed on defense.
Noah, instead of adjusting his game, tried to continue to be an aggressive defender. In the past he could react quickly and stay with players. Now he cannot. If he were to adjust his defense to play similar to Timofey Mozgov, sagging off on pick and rolls, Noah may be far more helpful to the Bulls. His failure to change is a big benefit for the Cavs.
Irving is playing with knee and foot issues, to go along with a hip issue that has been problematic earlier in the Playoffs. The first few games of this series Irving either tried to play like the fully healthy version of himself or stood on the side disengaged, seemingly frustrated. His effort, and willingness to stay on the court, is not questioned. His approach, though, was not working.
Then came last night’s game. Again Irving almost played 40 minutes but changed his way of impacting the game. Irving played mostly off the ball but moved into position to be ready to catch and shoot. With the ball, Irving took a few chances at attacking the hole and was successful. Those were more few and far between as Irving’s impact came in ways that were different than his regular season.
The change in approach for Irving led to 25 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal and even a block. He shot 3-6 from deep and 9-16 overall for a spectacular game. This version of Irving is still highly impactful, thanks to his change in approach.
Matthew Dellavedova
Can’t talk about last night’s game without bringing up Delly. Delly has been a punching bag for fans all year. He has learned his role as a solid role player who is feisty and disruptive. Delly had +11 plus/minus, second on the team behind J.R. Smith.
Before we get to the scuffle, Delly took 1 shot, a 3 pointer, and made it. He took 2 free throws and made them both. He had 4 assists and 2 turnovers.
Then the pesky Delly got in the middle of another scuffle. Delly was willing to take on Taj Gibson, a much bigger player, as the Bulls power forward came charging in for a rebound. Delly got low and got into Gibson’s body. Delly was willing to take a few pushes from Taj, replays show Delly getting thrown down a few minutes prior, and stay focused.
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Gibson couldn’t adjust to the physicality and tried to bully the young Australian. Delly kept fighting while Gibson got frustrated. When Delly tried to pop back up, watching games all year Delly always puts his feet together when popping up from his stomach, Taj lost his cool and kicked the Cavs point guard.
The other, less noticed, part of the scuffle was Delly getting up and keeping J.R. Smith out of getting in more trouble as Aaron Brooks rushed in and shoved JR. Not only was Delly kicked at but he also had the control to keep his head and help his team.
The Cavs adjusted (changed) to the physicality of the game and the Bulls were unable to do so. Well done Cavs.
What change do you think was the most important in Game 5 of Cavs Vs Bulls?