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Bulls stop James and the Cavs; escape with 86-85 win
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The Bulls' Joakim Noah, left, and Cavs Anderson Varejao (17), of Brazil, battle for a loose ball
The Chicago Bulls move to 3-2 on the season as they stun the Cavaliers in Cleveland 86-85. Cleveland, who lost just two home games all last regular season, had a shot at the end in the waining seconds, but LeBron's James lost the ball going to the hoop, sealing the Bulls win. Here's our good, bad, and ugly from the game.
The Good:
* One game after going 2-for-12 from the field, Anthony Parker was much better on Thursday night, shooting 4-for-9 from the field and he hit on all three of his 3-point shots. He ended with 11 points. He and Mo Williams seemed to do a good job with tempo, as the Bulls tried all night to slow the game down.
* Daniel Gibson had another decent night, going for 8 points off the bench in 16 minutes. He is slowly earning his way towards more playing time. He was the best player off the bench tonight for the Cavs, outplaying Delonte West who had just two points.
* LeBron James nearly took the game over at the end, hitting a big three down the stretch that made it a one-point game, which is what it stayed till he lost the ball at the very end of the game, giving Chicago the win. It was vintage James though, as he wanted to win the game by himself - and almost did.
* Zydrunas Ilgauskas kept a few offensive possessions going, as he had a game high six offensive rebounds. The Cavs had 9 offensive boards on the night.
The Bad:
* Ugh. The Bulls are a decent team, but the Cavs played right in their hands. Chicago's D made a big stand at the end of the game to stop James from winning the game with a hoop with less than a second left. Chicago will make an impact in the division, but this loss was a bit stunning to say the least.
* Tempo. I stated above that Parker and Williams ran the floor well when they had the shot, but the issue was they were slowed by Chicago's tempo all night long. The Cavs won these types of games last season, but so far this year have been unable to find that late magic, losing at home for the second time already this year.
* The new lineups and looks are still tough to watch some nights, and tonight was one of those. I for one don't like having Shaq and Z on the floor at the same time, agreeing with what Charles Barkley said at halftime. It does slow the Cavs offense too much, and it should be a combo that Mike Brown avoids for the most part.
* This team has no idea it seems on what they are doing on the offensive end of the floor right now. Again, it's growing pains on that end of the floor, and tonight was a perfect example of how much further they need to go to get to the next level.
* Why did Mo Williams have the ball and why did he take two very important shots late in the game, missing a three and then a wild bank shot that didn't have a chance? Williams needs to dish at least one of those two chances off to James or someone else. Those were ill advised.
* Shaq had 14 points and 10 boards, but I felt they needed to use him more.
The Ugly:
* The team has dropped two home games this season. Considering that they only lost two home games all of the 08-09 regular season, the crowd at the Q has to know that every now and then, this team is going to play a game like tonight, and not expect a win at home just by showing up on the floor.
Next:
The team heads to New York for the only time this year. Of course it will also be 1,000 questions to LeBron about coming to the Knicks next season. Not happening.
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