Round 2 Game 1 | Cavs vs. Bulls | May 4, 2015 | 7:00 PM ET

[Otsego Mar]

At times we defended the pick and roll like it was the first time we'd ever seen it.

Slow rotations or get-backs are one thing, but being so far away from the shooter that closing out is impossible is impermissible.

This really has been our achilles heel all year.

They exploited us big-time. How many times did Rose end up taking on TT? Not exactly the match-up you want.....especially considering it takes him out of good rebounding position.

 

[Man Called X]

View: https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/595399959748423680

 

[KilgoreTrout]

How did Blatt mess up?

Starting Miller over Marion. Leaving MM and JJ in, when they are worthless.

 

[letgocavs]

Th

Miller and Jones are corpses at this point. I don't understand why we won't give Harris a chance. Just give us something…ANYTHING!

This

 

[KilgoreTrout]

Unfortunately, it seems that this was actually Gasol and Rose's finest (2.5) hour.

The Imp has played his little trick. He won't be able to do it again (unless they stole the 2009 Orlando Magic's mojo).

Or their steroids.

 

[Otsego Mar]

View: https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/595399959748423680

Third time won't be a charm lol.

 

[ThirdWorld]

Quite annoying to see LeBron and Kyrie keep chucking 3s when they could shoot 2s instead

What about Delly who keeps passing up those wide open 3s

 

[Man Called X]

Third time won't be a charm lol.

You and I didn't watch the same game. I watched the Bulls play out of their mind, and still barely scrape by against a team missing it's 3rd and 4th leading scorers/best 3 point shooters/etc. Cavs play even a 1/3 more like they are capable, we win that game.

We took the Bulls best shot and still were in it until the end playing like shit.

 

[Jordan]

Staring Miller over Marion. Leaving MM and JJ in, when they are worthless.

Not to mention running a last second play for Delly, calling only two plays out of timeouts that were scores, and not trying different lineups/rotations to stop Rose and Gasol. I love Blatt but this was one of his worst performances of the season.

 

[Otsego Mar]

You and I didn't watch the same game. I watched the Bulls play out of their mind, and still barely scrape by against a team missing it's 3rd and 4th leading scorers/best 3 point shooters/etc. Cavs play even a 1/3 more like they are capable, we win that game.

We took the Bulls best shot and still were in it until the end playing like shit.

Barely scrape by? They led by double digits for quite a while and we never led. If we don't shore up our shoddy pick-and-roll defense it'll be Chicago who wins the next 3.

I think JR will help when he comes back but our defensive rotations are getting exploited.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

This Chicago team is over-confident. Time to come out game 2 and punch them in the mouth.

Doesn't matter if they are over-confident, if we are down to 2-3 players who aren't total a$$. We've got Kyrie, we've got Shump (who tries), we've got head-up-his-a$$ LeBron, we've got TT and Mozzy, who had limited impact, and we have LeBron's decrepit entourage, and then we have the end of the bench, which Blatt is afraid to use. That roster can't beat the Bulls. Maybe Superhero LeBron pokes his head in the door. Maybe TT or Mozzy takes his game up a notch. Maybe Blatt has the good sense to use Marion and Captain America over JJ and MM. If none of those things happen, we are SOOL.

 

[Otsego Mar]

Not to mention running a last second play for Delly, calling only two plays out of timeouts that were scores, and not trying different lineups/rotations to stop Rose and Gasol. I love Blatt but this was one of his worst performances of the season.

Some costly TOs by LeBron, Kyrie going rogue in the 4th.....lots to be disappointed about.

 

[Jordan]

Some costly TOs by LeBron, Kyrie going rogue in the 4th.....lots to be disappointed about.

Oh for sure. If you saw my previous posts I commentated on that. I would say only two of our guys had holistically "good" games and those would be Kyrie and Shump. And both disappeared for most of the 4th. I was responding to the person who asked "what did Blatt do wrong?"

 

[Man Called X]

Barely scrape by? They led by double digits for quite a while and we never led. If we don't shore up our shoddy pick-and-roll defense it'll be Chicago who wins the next 3.

I think JR will help when he comes back but our defensive rotations are getting exploited.

A team playing shoddy defense, and they couldn't exploit it to get to more than a 15 point lead. Those double digit leads didn't really last after the 1st quarter, other than their big run in the 3rd. The Bulls couldn't maintain the leads they were building, and the Cavs couldn't get a stop, or buy a bucket.

There's plenty to be upset about, but I saw a Cavs team with room for a bunch of small improvements that could've easily given us a victory. Not the least bit worried about the outcome of this series.

Cavs still have this.

 

[Silky Smooth]

Yea I'm still confident in our team. Chicago was making everything and everybody besides Irving and Shump played like crap. More ball movement, clean up the defense and turnovers and Chicago has no chance. We also need Miller, Jones and Marion to provide something. Anything.