Cleveland’s collective reaction watching last night’s game

Not many words can sum up last night’s game better than a good Kramer gif. That game was an ugly all around affair. Both teams couldn’t shoot, both teams played physical, and both teams didn’t get many calls from the refs. But in the end it was a 25 foot bank shot by a guy who’s never made a big shot in his life that did the Cavs in. Can’t even be mad at that. You just have to laugh, tip your cap, and move on.

Let’s look at the game tape

Need LeBron in attack mode all game every game from here on out. The stare down was a nice touch as well.

Alley oops to Russians from halfcourt are my new favorite thing ever

LeBron dunked on Joakim Noah’s soul then Noah proceeded to talk shit to him. Very confusing to say the least. In other news is there a bigger fraud in the NBA than Joakim Noah?

Cardale liked it

Thought this make by JR was the shot that would send the game into overtime

Until this bullshit happened

If it wasn’t against the Cavs I’d like this video of the shot set to Kanye West so much more.

Let’s also not forget that the final inbounds play was verrrrrry close (it was) to being over 5 seconds.

Couple quick thoughts

– What a way to lose a ballgame. It’s OK though. The Cavs 2 best players underperformed and it still took a 25 foot bank shot buzzer beater to beat us. This series is farrrr from over but last night was definitely a swift kick right to the nuts.

– Whoever Mark Schwartz is… well, he’s an idiot and Kyrie’s reaction says it all.

– Someone please tell Timofey Mozgov to start playing like he’s the biggest guy on the court. I know the refs weren’t calling anything but he’s gotta be stronger than that.

– Jimmy Butler’s last basket was a travel and if you don’t think so you’re blind.

– Man. I hate typing this but Kyrie was a liability in the fourth quarter. You could tell his foot was bothering him and he just wasn’t himself. If it’s crunch time and the Cavs need a big defensive stop I’m not sure I trust Kyrie on the court with his injured foot. (Feel freely to copy and paste this and rub my face in it if I end up being completely wrong)

– The Bulls had 15 more rebounds and 13 more second-chance points than the Cavs. That’s pretty stunning considering how things went in game 2. Serenity now!

– It sucks that Coach Thibs finally realized Nikola Mirotic should be playing a lot more than he has been.

– We split at home and splitting on the road is considered a victory. We CANNOT go down 3-1. Not even the least bit concerned however.

See you guys on Sunday. Cavs in 6.

Well that sucked. The Cavs came out flat from the jump and looked like a team that was without 40% of their starting lineup who hadn’t played in 7 days. Watching that first quarter you’d have thought the Cavs were about to lose this game by 20. Mike Dunleavy played the best quarter of his life and the Bulls were draining everything that left their hands.

A couple spurts here and there in the second half got the Cavs close but they could never get over that hump. Every time the Cavs went on a run the Bulls would withstand our effort and then go on their own run. The Bulls were Floyd Mayweather and the Cavs were Manny Pacquiao. When the Cavs started hitting and connecting with their shots, the Bulls ramped up their defense and went on runs of their own to close out the rounds. Every time the Cavs would get close and get the crowd back into it, the Bulls would tighten up and respond. We could just never get over that hump and never land that right hand hook. (Not to mention both Manny and the Cavs were screwed over by torn shoulders) This was just like a typical Floyd fight too. No knockout shots, just a close, gross match that was won by the team who played better defense.

Let’s look at the game tape:

(if first quarters didn’t count the Cavs would have won 77-72)

One of the few highlights from the fist quarter was Mozgov stuffing the shit out of Joakim Noah

Kyrie got in on the action as well with stripping Derrick Rose

Kyrie did Kyrie things

I heard Barkley or Kenny Smith say that all Kyrie did this game was make circus shots. Uh, these are the types of shots he makes EVERY game.

When Aaron Fucking Brooks is hitting shots like this it’s just not your night.

I don’t see Derrick Rose making many of these types of shots this series but damn he made them last night

The whole city of Chicago shit their pants when Derrick Rose got a stinger on his shoulder during this play. Kinda sucks when one of your star players hurts his shoulder, huh?

Couple quick thoughts:

– Hey guys let’s defend the Pick & Roll a lil better next game, k? Not really a fan of giving Pau Gasol WIIDDEE open 15 footers all game. If the Cavs can’t get that fixed we may be in for a long series. Either get a hand in his face or put him on his ass.

– Shumpert built off his game 4 performance in Boston and had a terrific game last night. He outscored LeBron and hit four 3s. We’ll need him to be a big contributor on Wednesday in JR’s place.

– Hey James Jones, make a shot, would ya?

– I don’t think Derrick Rose can play at that level every game but if he does…. yikes.

– We knew not having Kevin Love and JR Smith would hurt our three point shooting, but going 7 for 26 and shooting 26.9% is unacceptable in the playoffs.

– How in God’s name is this not an illegal screen on Joakim Noah? The Bulls didn’t score this possession but come on. It’s not a hard foul or malicious but it literally happened right in front of the referee’s eyes. “Get off your knees, ref. You’re blowing the game!” is what I hope some drunk guy in the front row shouted during this game.

– If the Cavs are going to win they’re going to need LeBron to take more than two free throws. Need to see more of LeBron The Aggressor not LeBron The Facilitator

– Gonna need Mozgov to step up BIG next game… defensively and offensively

– Don’t think I’ll need to see Mike Miller in the starting lineup again… Unless he’s hitting every 3 he takes

– In some weird sick and twisted way I think the Cavs losing game 1 is a good thing

•  This team needed to face some adversity during a game and this game was full of it.
• Game 1 was more of a “scouting report” game for the Cavs. It was all about how the Bulls would defend our offense without Love and JR and how they would attack our defense. Obviously the whole “Test Pau Gasol and let him shoot jumpers till the cows come home” strategy didn’t work.
• It provided a chance for LeBron to see how the Bulls would defend him. Plus it allowed us for him to have a shit game, get it out of the way, and only be down 0-1.
• There’s NOOO way the Bulls come out hitting shots like they were in the first quarter. Seriously. I’ve watched enough Bulls game this season to know that shot clock beating threes and long jumpers are not the norm for that team.
• We took the Bulls best shot and still had a chance to win at the end of the game.

So here we are down 1-0 with Game 2 on Wednesday and I could not be less worried (you’ll find out soon that we’re big fans of unjustified confidence around here)

And with that said… Cavs in 5.