NBA Playoffs Scouting: 2 Games In, Bulls Could Be Cavs Greatest Threat
By Eric Bauer
The vaunted Jordan Rules, a style of defense made famous by the Bad Boy era Pistons, apparently didn’t work last night in the NBA Playoffs against the Chicago Bulls. Although the Milwaukee Bucks were able to hold Derrick Rose scoreless for the entire first half of their First Round Game Two, ultimately the rest of the team proved too much. Up to the middle of the third quarter, the two teams actually seemed well matched. Physical play dominated. Seven technicals were doled out including one at the end of the fourth quarter that ejected Zaza Pachulia (his second) and sidelined Nikola Mirotic for the remainder of the game. The two had been banging under the rim all evening.
This is particularly important to the Cleveland Cavaliers because the Bulls present a dominant all around threat. Their stingy defense was even more consistent last night, holding the Bucks to 81 points, a full 5 points lower than their season average. Although the Bulls have never hung their hat on offense, last night demonstrated that they can produce in crunch time. With Derrick Rose struggling, their emerging superstar Jimmy Butler took over, draining all three of his final shots from behind the arc.
In the 1990s, the Jordan Rules ushered in the famous triangle that catapulted them to two three-peats. Today, Derrick Rose’s injury has forged a team that knows how to play scrappy, win-now basketball without him. It’s a mentality developed from very public struggles, something that prompted Kirk Hinrich to declare back in January, “I think we have to fight like our life depends on it. We have to come together and find a way. We’re really struggling right now. It’s no secret. We don’t have our edge.” No one would doubt their edge now, and it’s because they’ve learned how to work around their superstar rather than through him. Can the Cavs say the same thing?
“I think we have to fight like our life depends on it,” Hinrich said Monday. “We have to come together and find a way. We’re really struggling right now. It’s no secret. We don’t have our edge.” –Kirk Hinrich.
The last time the Cavs played the Bulls, on April 5, it took J.R. Smith hitting eight three pointers to win. It took a forty-foot, nearly half-court shot from Kyrie Irving. Most importantly, it took a sidelined Derrick Rose. In their previous matchup on February 12, Derrick Rose scored 30 and the Bulls decimated the Cavs 113 to 98 in a game that wasn’t even that close.
Still, there is hope of the Cavaliers, much of it. While their first game against the Bulls still included Dion Waiters, their second game may have been more indicative of what will happen this postseason. It was January 19, just after the All Star game when all the pieces of this new roster had finally been assembled. The Bulls were at full strength, more or less, and in a very even game, the Cavs sent them back to Chicago with a 12-point loss. The reason? The Cavs played the Bulls their way. They slowed the tempo, played hard defense, and weren’t afraid to get physical in the paint. It’s the same thing they did to Memphis weeks later in a blowout win.
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Heroics are not going to win a championship. A team can’t depend on half court shots from one player and eight three pointers from another. Fundamentals always win basketball. It’s why Golden State has been so consistent this year. It’s why the Spurs have been a serious threat for going on two decades. It’s why Mike Budenholzer of the Atlanta Hawks was just named coach of the year. The Cavs beat the Spurs in their last game because of Kyrie’s 57 OT points. That won’t happen again. Instead, if they hope to win against teams that play solid, consistent basketball, they’ll have to do the same thing. You don’t need “Derrick Rose Rules” or “Tim Duncan Rules” or whatever. You just need rules, fundamental rules to win games one at a time.
The Cavs will need those fundamentals as they likely face the Chicago Bulls in the next round of the NBA Playoffs. Scouting ahead, we have some concerns for the team. We will check back in on this series after Game 4 as well.