Saturday, November 3, 2012

Bulled and Bullied

The Cleveland Cavaliers quickly realized the difference between the Washington Wizards and the Chicago Bulls as the Bulls took charge from the start and cruised to a 115-86 win at the Q.
Kyrie Irving led Cleveland with 15 points for the 1-1 Cavaliers.
Cleveland hits the road for the first time tomorrow night in Milwaukee against the Bucks.
I will not have coverage as the tip is at 8:30 and I have to be at the road office....

Swashbucklings

1) The loss was not as close as the final edge of 29 points.
Chicago dominated the young Cavaliers all night with physical play and defense.
The Bulls played tight defense (40 % shooting) and basically squeezed the Cavaliers out of the point,made them take contested jumpers and bullied them physically.

2) I did like Byron Scott's move in the game (before it got too out of control) to play Anderson Varejao and Tyler Zeller together on the floor for a bit.
That might be a look at the future for Zeller at center having the powerhouse rebounder Varejao at the four spot to add some rebounding to the lineup.
As the season goes on,I'd like to see Zeller and Tristan Thompson play together some as well...

3) Zeller quickly found himself in foul trouble,but I was impressed as he was one of the few that did not back down from the Bulls as he gave as good as he got in the push and shove game...

4) Kyrie Irving did lead Cleveland with 15 points,but it was still an off night as Irving took 15 shots to earn his points.
Considering the matchup that Irving had defensively against Kirk Hinrich,I would consider that a disappointing number....

5) I am reaching to find a fifth item in such a lousy performance,so let's go with Samardo Samuels,who shot  3 of 5 from the field and grabbed 5 rebounds in garbage time.Samuels might be in his final chance to be an off the bench contributor.

Photo Credit:Joshua Gunter:Cleveland Plain Dealer

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