Bulls hang on to beat Cavaliers 108-106

CHICAGO (AP)— LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers can forget about sweeping the Bulls out of the playoffs.

Derrick Rose scored 31 points, Kirk Hinrich added 27 and Chicago hung to beat the top-seeded Cavaliers 108-106 Thursday night in Game 3 of their first-round series after watching a 21-point lead dwindle to one.

James scored 13 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter and nailed a 3-pointer with 3.8 seconds left that made it 107-106. The Cavaliers immediately fouled Chicago’s Luol Deng, who hit the first free throw but missed the second. Cleveland’s Anthony Parker got the rebound and raced up the right side but missed a 3 at the buzzer, and the Bulls escaped with the win.

They will try to tie the best-of-seven series on Sunday.

Box score:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_ylt=AmWWxSOh3B.7lpT6Zz8bysaQvLYF?gid=2010042204

Maybe the Bulls can stretch out the series like they did to us last year.

Cavs didn't look good in the last game they won either,its all Lebron doing everything,Shaq and Jamison aren't used enough or are not making enough impact,JJ Hickson is not used,somethings off,chemistry concerns?

The bulls are not scared of cleve..goin right at em

gyso,

That is what I was thinking/hoping for. To drag out the series a bit so the Cavs are not so rested. Wouldn't this be great for the Cav's to end up in a long series with the Bulls and the C's sweep the Heat. The C's get some rest and the Cavs develop the tired leg syndrom (sp) for the next series.

MG

Lakers and Thunder in another close one.

MustangGator wrote:Lakers and Thunder in another close one.

MG,

I've only seen part of one game but Durant looked way off, and in tonight's box score he is shooting 2 of 13 so far. Is Artest covering him exclusively?

Bob, Artest has been the primary cover. Almost exclusively. Tonight kobe covered Durant while Artest sat a bit. It didn't take long for Kobe to foul Durant and for PJ to send Artest back into the game.

Kobe getting abused hes pouting is 1-6 from field in 4th,Durant just blocked his shot and then posted him for a floater at other end!!!Thunder up 8 in 4th.

Durant is going off right now. The Thunder are feeding off their crowd.

Durant is showing hes more than just a great scorer

Good game, great atmosphere.

mg

Hard cheese. Not a great matchup...young and fast. Your boys will be allright. But it's goin six I bet.

what did I say about Noah?his energy and defense are so vital to keeping that team in the game.....passing of the guard him outworking Shaq,kid is so relentless

Jeb,

You may be right. However, if your going to say 6, you might as well say 7. By saying 6, your saying the Lakers will clinch in OKC. Game 6 is in OKC. Being the optimist I am, I say the Lakers win game 4 and then clinch at home in game 5. Maybe I am just letting my heart do the thinking. I don't know.

mg

i could sure see that. But the force tells me 6. yall got to slow the pace!

How much fun was it watching both the Cavs and Lakers lose playoff games on the same night? I feel like we won something (been looking around for my prize) and we didn't even play. Nice night to stay home and watch some hoops.

Guys,
Please, let's go back to planet Earth. Cavs and LA in 5. Well, I'll give about 20% probability they go in 6.
Rose, Noah, Hinrich are very good players but they're not at the LJ level and Bulls don't have anybody to stop or even slow LJ. It's kind of the opposite picture in the other series: OKC has a legitimate superstar but they don't have anything to throw against LA's 3 bigs. Plus, experience does matter in playoffs.
I'm more concerned with tonight's game: I hope Celtics go like a raging KGBs (B=bull, bison, behemoth) and squash the Heat.

AK

Thunder can give LA alot of problems and now Durant is finding other ways to use his length,he gave Kobe fits,Westbrook can get by or over Fisher anytime he wants....beat LA

I would agree with Sinus. One victory by the Bulls and the Thunder do not a competitive series make. The Bulls got theirs, so Noah will feel entitled to keep mouthing off until he finally gets turned into a smudge by Shaq (and he will). This was Derrick Rose's coming-out party. Doing that in a playoff game against a high-quality opponent means you have arrived. OKC got theirs, the first professional playoff game in OKC history and I'm very happy for them, but Durant and Westbrook against the Lakers still isn't a fair fight.

Credit to D-Fish and Gasol for not making this look really ugly. The basketball world got to see KoME again last night, shooting 10-29 from the field. The Lakers, as a team, shot 45%. Take KoME's fgs out of the picture and the Lakers would have scored at 51%. Sure, they would have had to find other people to suck up some of KoME's fga (let's say he took 20 fga instead of 29; that's 9 more shots for whomever), that would have been the game.

That's why I'm not all that impressed with OKC's win. They needed an absolutely crazed crowd (were they unbelievable, or what?!) and a colder-than-ice Bryant. Sure, Durant wasn't too much better, but he's got Artest on him to throw him off. Bryant just has to do a little better than horrendous. Still, this is why LA loses playoff games. It's why Houston took them to 7 last year and it's the reason why Boston beat them in '08. It's because KoME shows up and can't accept the fact that he's shooting his team out of the game. He's the reason they lost last night.

bob

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bob,

Good points but I disagree with your last point that Kobe was the reason L.A. lost last night. His second half shooting was a factor but to me these were the main reasons why:
1) LA got 16 points from their bench on 5-16 shooting. (1-10 3 point shooting.)
2) LA got away from the game plan that worked very well in the first half. They had many dunks and points in the paint but settled for long outside shots in the second half.
3) LA shot 31 3 point shots. They averaged 19 in the regular season. Also, many of their second half shot were near the 3 point line. This led to many long rebounds for OKC and easy baskets.
4) Kobe shot the ball terrible in the second half.
5) Due to their terrible bench play, Kobe had to play 21 out of 24 minutes in the second half.
6) Odom is a non-factor in this series due to an apparant lack of effort/determination.

tjmakz wrote:bob,

Good points but I disagree with your last point that Kobe was the reason L.A. lost last night. His second half shooting was a factor but to me these were the main reasons why:
1) LA got 16 points from their bench on 5-16 shooting. (1-10 3 point shooting.)
2) LA got away from the game plan that worked very well in the first half. They had many dunks and points in the paint but settled for long outside shots in the second half.
3) LA shot 31 3 point shots. They averaged 19 in the regular season. Also, many of their second half shot were near the 3 point line. This led to many long rebounds for OKC and easy baskets.
4) Kobe shot the ball terrible in the second half.
5) Due to their terrible bench play, Kobe had to play 21 out of 24 minutes in the second half.
6) Odom is a non-factor in this series due to an apparant lack of effort/determination.

TJ,

Regarding your points above:

1. LA has one of, if not the, weakest benches in the league. Almost certainly, the weakest bench of any team in the playoffs. This has been discussed and mostly admitted by even the hardest core Laker fans all year. Phil Jackson has played them sparingly over the season, despite injuries to Bryant, Gasol and Bynum, precisely because they are weak. It should be no surprise, therefore, when they don't deliver in high-pressure situations. Nevertheless, they only played a total of 46 minutes out 240 (19%). Hardly significant minutes. Their 16 fga represents 19% of the total Laker fga. So, the number of shots they took was in line with the number of minutes they played. On the other hand, KoME played 41 minutes (almost as many as the entire bench combined) and took 29 fga (almost double the bench's) and shot almost the same % (31.3% for the bench vs 34.5% for KoME). Whose low 30's % fg shooting had a more material impact on the game? The scrubs who took 19% of the total fga or the superstar who took 35%?

2. Here's the shot summary for the Lakers in the 4th quarter (4th quarter only). The score, at the start of the 4th quarter, was 75-74 LA. LA by one.

KoME - 2-9 (one shot blocked); 0-4 from 3; one layup and one mid-range sunk, 2 mid-range missed.
Bynum - 1-1; dunk
Gasol - 1-1; 7' shot
Fisher - 1-1; 3pter
Artest - 0-3; all 3 misses were 3-pters
Odom - 1-1; 3pter
Farmar - 0-1; 3pter missed with time almost out, almost a "what the heck, it's over anyway" shot.

That's 5-17 in the 4th quarter by the Lakers with KoME taking >50% of them and taking 40% of the 3pters. If you're right about the Lakers forgetting about the inside and going strictly outside (and Gasol and Bynum only having 2 fga in the quarter and one layup by Bryant would support your claim), then KoME is the biggest culprit. He's the one who took the lion's share of those shots. If the Lakers lost because they stopped going inside, I would still lay a lot of the blame at KoME's feet.

3. That's the problem with 3pt shots. When you make them, you look like heroes, when you don't you give up transition baskets often accompanied by a foul or a crowd-raising dunk. Once again though, I point to KoME's 11 3pt fga as part of the reason. If the Lakers only shoot 19/game during the season, then KoME took way too many last night and was only 4-11.

4. Due to the Lakers terrible bench play, Kobe has had to play too many minutes all season. Last night was just more of the same.

5. The Candy Man is still doing his "Trick-or-Treat" thing. Once again, not exactly a shocking revelation that he's there one game and gone the next. I don't understand why he's not taking it inside all the time. OKC really has nobody who can stop him. Odom is, IMO, the best 6th man in the league. When he's not playing well, like last night, the Laker bench has nothing. Ok, Shannon Brown's good, just not last night, but that's not much more when your bench is 6-12.

bob

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You are absolutely correct that LA has the weakest bench in the playoffs.
They cannot win if they are so ineffective like last night.
Brown had 3 fouls in 6 minutes, Luke's shot is way off.
Kobe shot a lot partially because nobody wanted to make a play in the second half. Artest can't get himself open for good shot attempts. He needs others to get him open looks.
Odom didn't make anything happen on either end of the court.
Fisher hit some lucky 3 pointers but can't break down a defense to get a teammate an easy shot.
Kobe got infatuated with hitting (4) 3 pointers in the first half. He shot 27 free throws in the first 2 games and 0 last night. It wasn't at all because he didn't get any calls or because they were playing in OKC. He just didn't take the ball to the hoop. If the bench played better and kept the lead Kobe could have sat out the first 4 minutes of the 4th quarter. If so, he might have had more left in the tank to be aggressive on the offensive end. He wound up having to play the whole 4th quarter.

the lakes in every game so far have started by going inside but have slowly over the course of the game fallen into okc's pace. The lakes must control the pace or this series may go 7. the kids are too fast and jump too high.

tjmakz wrote:You are absolutely correct that LA has the weakest bench in the playoffs.
They cannot win if they are so ineffective like last night.
Brown had 3 fouls in 6 minutes, Luke's shot is way off.
Kobe shot a lot partially because nobody wanted to make a play in the second half. Artest can't get himself open for good shot attempts. He needs others to get him open looks.
Odom didn't make anything happen on either end of the court.
Fisher hit some lucky 3 pointers but can't break down a defense to get a teammate an easy shot.
Kobe got infatuated with hitting (4) 3 pointers in the first half. He shot 27 free throws in the first 2 games and 0 last night. It wasn't at all because he didn't get any calls or because they were playing in OKC. He just didn't take the ball to the hoop. If the bench played better and kept the lead Kobe could have sat out the first 4 minutes of the 4th quarter. If so, he might have had more left in the tank to be aggressive on the offensive end. He wound up having to play the whole 4th quarter.

TJ,

I think we've pretty much beaten this game to death, but I looked into the last 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter, since you brought it up.

5:09 left, LO comes in for Bynum. The Laker team on the floor is: Gasol, Odom, Bryant, Fisher, Artest. 4 starters and a "could be" starter. The score was 66-58, Lakers by 8.

Kobe - 0-1, 6' shot missed
Artest - 0-1, 20' shot missed
Fisher - 1-1, 24' shot hit

At 3:11 left in the 3rd, Bryant came out and was replaced by Shannon Brown. The score was 70-64 Lakers, Lakers by 6, and the team on the floor was Fisher, Gasol, Brown, Odom and Artest. Three starters and one "could be". The Lakers lost 2 points with Bryant on the floor. Three fga in 2 minutes (1.5fga/minute). Considering they took 84 in 48 minutes (1.75fga/minute), that's a little off, but not a whole lot.

Odom - 1-2, 5' shot hit, 24' 3pter missed
Brown - 0-1, 24' 3pter missed
Fisher - 0-1, 25' 3pter missed.

The score after 3 was 75-74 Lakers. They took 4 fga in a little over 3 minutes (1.33fga/minute). That's a drop, undeniably, but it was only for a 3 minute span. Unfortunately, we here have all seen the Celtics go into longer, deeper offensive funks than that this year.

So, with Odom replacing Bynum but all the other Laker starters in the game, the Lakers lost 2 points off their lead in roughly 2 minutes. Call it 1 point/minute, despite taking fga at almost the same rate as the game as a whole with Bryant in the game. In the last 3:11, with 3 starters and Odom (who's as good as almost any other starting PF in the league, including OKC) the Lakers lost another 5 points in 3 minutes. Say, 1.67 points/minute. Ok, that's a greater attrition rate than when Bryant was in there, but they were losing points with Bryant in there too. The product of .67 points/minute over a 3 minute span is 2 points. I'm not sure the choice between Kobe playing the entire 4th quarter or sitting the 1st 4 minutes of the 4th is the result of Lakers by one versus Lakers by 3 and I didn't see evidence of fatigue in Bryant's game. Frustration, absolutely, but not the "I'm running on fumes but I won't let that stop me" look we saw in the WCF and Finals last year.

bob

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Yes, we've beaten the game to death.
Would like to make a couple of notes not about the game:

OKC is a very fun team to watch and has a bright future.
I don't think we've seen a type of player like Durant since Larry Nance. (6'10", long, athletic.) Nance could jump higher and was a better defender but Durant is a premier offensive player.
Since OKC is not on TV too often this could be Westbrook's coming out party.
This summer if LA does not get another consistent outside shooter and upgrade the PG position with a quick point guard the can defend and penetrate into the lane, then LA's title chances might be very slim next year.