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Game Thread 2019-20 Season Game #46 | Cleveland Cavaliers vs Chicago Bulls | Jan 25th, 2020

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How did Wade and Mooney do? Oh that’s right they’re not good enough to get any minutes with this all star crew.
 
Absolutely pathetic. I'm a glass half full guy but this was hard to watch. Once again the Cavs had one horrible stretch of basketball that cost them a win. After scoring the first seven points of the third quarter to take a 64-59 lead the Cavs were outscored 40-12 in the last 10:15 of the third quarter - a 28-point difference. They lost by 12.

The Bulls rank 26th out of 30 in scoring but put 118 on the Cavs for the second game in a row despite their entire starting front line (Carter, Porter, and Markkanen) being out. Unbelievable. The Cavaliers flat out suck, losing to an injury ravaged team on the second night of a back-to-back at home.

At least they reduced the turnovers from 26 last week to 21. The Bulls showed why they lead the NBA in steals. They constantly got hands into the passing lanes and poked the ball away from dribblers. I love the way the defended the pick and roll, stepping out to force the ball handler to come to a complete stop, doubling him momentarily, then having one defender get back to the Cav who set the pick. As opposed to the Cavs who let LaVine go around screens unhindered and just continue on to the rim for layup after layup.

LaVine punked the Cavs again with 44 points, 10 boards, and 8 assists, so he was directly involved in 60 points. He was a man among boys again. The only time the Cavs were able to control him is when Thompson guarded him at the start of the third quarter. LaVine toyed with Sexton and Garland, just shouldering them out of the way on his way to another layup. His 27 points in the first half ( a career high) were all on free throws, three-point shots, or layups and dunks. Everything at the rim or the 3-point line.

Thompson was a -32 in 28 minutes; the next worst plus/minus was -15. For some reason the Bulls rolled when TT was on the floor. He wasn't bad with 7 points, 7 boards, and 6 assists, but the Cavs did better with Nance and Henson in for TT and Love.

Nance had another excellent game, going 7-for-11 from the field with a line of 15/11/4 and a +3 in 24 minutes. He should be starting ahead of TT in my opinion. The only positive thing I saw the entire game was the continued outstanding play of Nance since coming back from the sore knee.

Henson was a team leading +12 in 12 minutes, meaning the Cavs were outscored by 24 when he was on the bench. He altered a lot of layups, forcing missed shots. He scored 7 points on 3 shots and had a block in addition to forcing several missed shots. Henson's rim protection adds a necessary element totally missing when he's on the bench. OK, two positive things.

Henson and Nance were a combined +15 while Love and Thompson were a combined -39. That's a 54-point swing. Hard to comprehend.

The Cavs actually shot 50% from the field and 43.3% on 3's which is excellent. But thanks to the 21 turnovers they only scored 106 points.

Darius Garland had 0 assists in 35 minutes.

After the game Brad Daugherty said the Cavs need to be "mentally tough". Obviously he thinks they're soft. They seem to follow a predictable pattern. They play pretty well in the first quarter, either leading or being close. Somewhere in either the second or third quarter they have a really bad patch where they get absolutely torched and fall way behind. Then they fight back in the fourth to make the final score not too embarassing.

But a 12-point loss to the Bulls at home is extremely embarassing, especially with the Bulls having played last night and with three starters out. They scored 118 points without their 2nd, 3rd, and 4th leading scorers. There's nothing the Cavs can say after this loss except, "We really suck".

The loss of Clarkson with almost nothing in return was devastating, especially with Kevin Porter Jr. also going down. If the Cavs can't beat the depleted Bulls under these circumstances it's fair to ask who the hell can they beat? The way they're playing they might not win two more games the rest of the year.
 

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