The Bulls earned it - they clearly wanted it more. 25 offensive rebounds to only 5 for the Cavs. Drummond was huge, 17 points and 26 boards including 9 offensive rebounds. The Cavs had no answer for him. The Bulls had 32 second chance points to 11 for the Cavs. That was the game right there.
Vucevic and Drummond combined for 41 points and 39 rebounds. They kicked Allen's butt. Jarrett had 11 points and just 4 rebounds in 34 minutes. On top of that Allen committed the dumbest foul I've seen this year on DeRozan. Allen is 6'11', Rosen is 6'6". Just put a hand up and make him force up a 3. Allen just blundered into him. I have no idea what he was trying to do. The Cavs had a foul to give so he may have been fouling him on purpose, but DeRo was already into his shot.
Mitchell fell apart at the end. With 1:38 to go in regulation he threw up a 3-point airball off a spin move. With the score tied and 18 seconds to go at the end of regulation he lost the ball on his dribble, depriving the Cavs of a chance to hit a game-winning shot. At the end of the first OT he missed a free throw that would have given the Cavs a 4-point lead with 13 seconds to go. Then he missed a 15-foot jumper to win at the end of the first OT. He also had five turnovers.
The good news was Garland hit seven 3's. It looks like he's got his legs back and his confidence from deep. Unfortunately, he got blocked about four times on layups. He needs to go back to the one-footed floater. But it's great to seen him knocking down 3's again.
LeVert was outstanding with a line of 14/7/15 plus two steals and two blocks. But he ran out of gas in the second OT, missing an uncontested corner 3 and a layup off a steal.
Niang sucked and Wade barely got off the bench. What else is new?
The Cavs got a win they didn't deserve last night. They really deserved this loss tonight. The Bulls were ravaged by injuries but teams usually win in that situation. Guys like Drummond and Dosunmu who are getting a lot of extra minutes respond by playing with a vengeance. The Bulls crashed the offensive glass relentlessly. Drummond was the difference.
A rookie from Turkey named Bitim, who had not scored a point in his 6-minute NBA career, had 10 points on just four shots. He made two key free throws at the end. DeRo made all three of his after Allen fouled him. But Mitchell missed the one he needed to make.
Mobley had a great game with 25 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks, but he blew an uncontested shot right at the rim that lost us the game in the end.
Every time the Cavs have the ball with the shot clock off at the end of a quarter Garland dribbles down the clock and misses a 3-pointer. Anybody else getting tired of that?
