Cavs Vs Bulls Game 6: 3 Keys to a Close Out Win
The Cleveland Cavaliers face off with the Chicago Bulls tonight in Game 6 of their series. Cavs Vs Bulls has been entertaining. We have seen back to back buzzer beaters, big performances out of LeBron James and the physical, rough and tumble play that you expect from these two teams in the East.
The Cavs have a chance to close out the series on the Bulls home floor tonight. Up 3 – 2 with tons of health issues (Kyrie Irving, Iman Shumpert and even James), the Cavs would benefit from closing out this series early. Cavs fans should be rooting for the Washington Wizards in their Game 6 tomorrow to stretch their series with the Atlanta Hawks to a full 7 games.
The Cavs Vs Bulls series has had it’s ebbs and flows, it’s ups and downs, for both teams. Tonight’s game is not expected to be any different. On their home court, the Bulls will have a raucous crowd, Matthew Dellavedova may have spurred on some of the anger, and will be playing with their season on the line.
Here are 3 Keys for the Cavs to close out their series with the Bulls:
1st and 3rd Quarters
The Cavs have to withstand whatever energy and attack the Bulls put on at the start of the game and coming out of halftime. We expect the Bulls to go for broke early in both of these quarters. The Bulls are a more talented version of the Boston Celtics but need to give their all to defeat the Cavs. In Game 5 they started out with an 8 – 0 run and seemed to dominate most of the 1st Quarter. The Cavs are so talented that by the end of the quarter they had the lead.
If the Cavs can do something similar in the 1st and 3rd quarters of Game 6, withstand the onslaught and still be close, or leading, the Bulls spirits will be broken. We saw some of this late in the 3rd, early in the 4th of the last game. The Bulls got frustrated, got physical, got mouthy and in the end got beat. They gave all they had and couldn’t come close to putting away the Cavs.
The 1st and 3rd quarters will be very decisive in Game 6.
Kyrie Adjustments on Both Ends
Even though we saw a few drives to the hole in game 5, Kyrie Irving is not healthy. We saw it in the video of LeBron giving him a hard time after the game, we see it when he gave up the ball to J.R. Smith to bring it up the court and we see it on the defensive end of the court.
The Cavs made some great adjustments to make up for Irving’s limitations. He was rarely involved in screen and rolls on offense, instead J.R. and Shumpert were often the guards setting screens for LeBron. This freed up Kyrie to be a catch and shoot 3 point shooter, and a few times to attack the basket taking advantage of the rotating defense. This, and other small wrinkles on offense, still allowed Irving to be impactful for the Cavs.
On defense the Cavs tried to “hide” Kyrie on Mike Dunleavy. This is beneficial for multiple reasons. First, Irving struggles with Derrick Rose even when he is healthy, much worse now. Shumpert, Smith and LeBron all can lock in on DRose and do a good to great job on him. The secondary benefit is that, due to his physical limitations right now, Irving is less likely to help off of the sweet shooting Dunleavy. The Cavs were burned often by Dunleavy when his defender would help off on a Rose drive or a Bulls post up. Irving just can’t do it but that keeps him close to Dunleavy making shots much more difficult.
Adjusting to Irving’s health limitations will be key to closing out the series for the Cavs.
3 Point Shooting
Finally, well we will have an honorable mention, the Cavs need to shoot good 3 pointers. When LeBron, J.R., Irving and even Shumpert are shooting 3 pointers in rhythm the Cavs are tough to beat. Shots on kick outs, off ball screen action, when the ball is swung side to side and on secondary breaks are all great 3 pointers for the Cavs.
Holding the ball, jab stepping and then launching a 3 is not. We are looking at you King James. The Cavs mostly got away from that in Game 5, as LeBron attacked early or moved the ball quickly instead of settling for 1 on 5 offense. When the ball is moving, the Cavs get great looks.
When it doesn’t, it gives the Bulls time to load up their defense and get everyone in the position they want them to. LeBron saw in last year’s Finals how the Spurs movement caused a ton of problems for the defense. The Cavs have the shooters and rebounders that should lead them to keep the ball and players moving at all times. It opens up lanes, open shots and frees up Tristan Thompson, Timofey Mozgov and the rest to get offensive boards as the defense recovers.
If the Cavs can get the proper spacing and movement, the 3 point shots they take could lead to a big victory and a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Honorable Mention
Keep Your Head – Much like the end of the Celtics series, we expect this game to get chippy. The Delly/Taj Gibson dust up is just one sign that it is coming. Joakim Noah, Aaron Brooks and Gibson all have tried to use physical play to get their way.
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The Cavs can’t lose their head. While some will specifically worry about J.R., Thompson has been far more vocal and emotional this series and Timo has struggled most of the season keeping his head about him. The Cavs have no room for losing another player, whether to suspension or injury due to hard physical play.
The Cavs must keep their heads in a hostile environment tonight, not only to win the series but for the good of the rest of the Playoffs.
What do you think is key for Cavs Vs Bulls Game 6?