2010 NBA Playoffs: The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Cleveland's Game One Win

Cleveland opened up its run at a championship in a fairly decisive way yesterday, rolling to a 96-83 win over the Chicago Bulls in Game One.

It was a performance you might expect from the Cavs—intensely focused for a majority of the game, a bit rusty during others, and a few mental lapses here and there.

You can't complain with the overall outcome, but there were definitely some areas where the Cavs can improve and not let the Bulls build on for Game Two.

So let's get into it...

The Good

Mo Williams

It was a big question as to how Mo would respond this postseason after his struggles last year, especially against Orlando.

When Antawn Jamison arrived, Mo struggled to find his flow in the offense. But in the last eight games of the regular season, Mo began to thrive, averaging 21.7 points, 7.3 assists, and three three-pointers a game.

His confidence showed today; he came out aggressive and attacking. He did a great job not swallowing the ball during a possession but making sure it moved from side to side, getting it to LeBron and Antawn for good scoring opportunities.

And just when the defense started to back off of him, he stepped up and looked for his jump shot.

He finished the game with 19 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 three-pointers, a steal and a block. Pretty strong numbers, but his impact delves deeper.

He set the tone early with his assertiveness on the offensive end by seemingly always knowing when to push the pace. He also seemed to know just when to settle into the half court set or when to look for his own shot.

His five turnovers were a bit much, but a lot of it was him trying to be aggressive in transition and upping the tempo. You can live with those mistakes.

He wound up scoring or assisting on 40 points for the Cavs; Derrick Rose scored or assisted for 48 points. I wrote in a Cleveland/Chicago preview earlier that if Mo can come close to matching Rose's numbers, the Cavs shouldn't have too much trouble.

If one game is any indication, it's a good start for Mo Gotti.

Shaquille O'Neal

The big man was sharp in his return and made his presence felt earlier with a bit of a cherry pick dunk that he drew a foul on. He dominated Joakim Noah and Brad Miller in the post and showed Cleveland's real advantage in the series.

Chicago's interior players are a bit undersized and, other than Miller, are all relatively young defensively. Offensively, they aren't much of a threat either, especially in their mid-range game.

Shaq did a great job against Noah on the block, using spin-moves and hooks to get his buckets.

On defense, he played off Noah and was able to guard the paint, helping to deter the penetration of the Bulls' guards. He played well off Noah when Joakim got the ball on the elbow or in the foul-line extended area. Noah took a few bad jumpers early and missed, playing right into the Cleveland's hands.

Finally, he got all of the bigs in foul trouble; Miller, Noah, and Gibson all had three fouls in the first half, helping the Cavs get in the penalty.

He got a bit winded after his spurts, but that's to be expected. Overall, he looked lean, slim (as slim as he's going to get, I mean), and in great shape. He really made a commitment to keep himself active and it showed.

That's got to be an inspiration for his teammates.

Rebounding

The Cavs won the rebounding battle, 50-38, but were outrebounded by one in the second half.

Anderson Varejao's energy was a big spark off the bench; he had a playoff career high 15 rebounds in just 32 minutes, including four offensive. He was diving into the stands for loose balls, getting quick steals off inbounds passes, and his frenetic play was infectious.

Overall, Cleveland's bigs were fantastic and produced very efficiently. They just seemed to outhustle the younger and more athletic bigs from Chicago, and they gave great minutes...oh, and J.J. Hickson, a guy who started 70 games for a 61-win team, didn't get off the bench until the final minute.

If the Cavs can outrebound Chicago by 10 or more each game and get themselves more shots, it's going to be tough for the Bulls to keep up in the scoring department.

Offensive Gameplan (When Executed, That Is)

I love what the Cavs did in the first half. They really attacked Noah and Gibson in the pick-and-roll, and it worked to perfection.

On one instance, Noah turned his head and lost Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who stepped out to hit a 20-foot jumper.

On another, Gibson had a poor close out on Jamison, allowing Antawn to get a step on him and convert an easy layup.

And later, Noah didn't fully commit on helping on Delonte West in the pick-and-roll, and Delonte hit a beautiful bounce bass to Varejao cutting baseline for a dunk.

When Cleveland got out and ran after misses, and attacked the rim in the half court, they scored at will. When they didn't, well...we'll get to that in another section.

Defense on Bulls' Guards

The defense on Derrick Rose was iffy at times, but he made some great individual plays as well.

But Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng were pretty ineffective and the Cavs made them all volume scorers. Rose scored 28 points on 28 shots, Hinrich had eight points on 10 shots, and Deng had 12 points on 15 shots.

Combined, that's 50 points on 53 shots—there's no way that Chicago has a chance with that kind of production.

I think the Cavs just have to keep throwing different looks at Derrick Rose. He never appeared comfortable today, despite what the stat sheets suggests (28 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds, and 7 turnovers).

When he gets into the lane and gets into a rhythm, he's a load to handle. Expect Mike Brown to throw multiple defenders, including Anthony Parker, Mo, and Delonte, at the second-year point guard.

The Bad

Three-Point Shooting

Just 6-of-23. The Cavs are one of the better three-point shooting teams in the league, but forced some today.

In the first half, most of the misses came after good ball movement and rotation...the shots just weren't falling. Again, that's something you can live with—you can chalk that up to a little rust and a maybe just an off day.

But during the scoreless stretch in the third quarter in particular, the Cavs stopped moving the ball and were shooting three's in one-on-one situations. Then the Bulls began packing the paint in and playing a bit of zone, and the guards were too content to settle for jumpers.

As a result, the Bulls got out in transition a bit more (where they are pretty successful) and got back into the game.

Twenty-three three-pointers is a good amount against a team where the Cavs have a significant advantage inside. I wouldn't think that they'd put up that many in Game Two.

Second-Half Aggressiveness

After jumping out to a 22-point lead at the beginning of the third, complacency kicked in.

The Cavs started taking big risks trying to start fast breaks, and turned the ball over a few times. When the Bulls played defense closer to the rim instead of contesting the perimeter, nobody stepped up to get to the rim off the bounce; instead, there were a lot of jumpers and one-on-one plays.

This is when the Cavs need LeBron to get to the tin, no matter what the cost. Against Orlando, they can expect to see this kind of defense in the fourth quarter and late in the game. If LeBron gets inside, puts pressure on Dwight Howard and forces the defense to collapse, it'll create some easy opportunities for guys like Mo and Antawn.

But over the full 48 minutes, the Cavs didn't do too many things "bad," which is a great sign for the rest of the series.

The Ugly

Turnovers

Eighteen in a playoff game is too many.

One thing I didn't mind too much is that a lot of them were trying to start fast breaks. I actually think the Cavs can play a transition game successfully against Chicago, when they pick and choose their spots appropriately. They did so in the first half; in the second, they got a little greedy once they got up big and took some unnecessary chances.

A lot of that is due to big of rust as well—the timing was just a bit off on one or two plays in the open court. But hopefully, this isn't a major problem, as it was just the ramification of a long layoff.

Free-Throw Shooting

Shooting 12-of-17 is solid (I can't believe I just said that 70 percent is acceptable), because three of the misses came from O'Neal.

Getting to the line only 17 times, there's not much of a sample size. In this game, it didn't cost anything.

But I was surprised that the Bulls didn't try fouling in the final five minutes, especially when they cut the lead to single-digits. Shaq was out of the game, but they could have tried to go after Jamison and put him on the line.

This is something that the Cavs will have to deal with in the playoffs, so it's in their best interest to keep striving to get better from the line.

Joakim Noah

Enough said (kidding, Bulls fans!).

Overall

The Cavs had a good start on the title run. I'd give it a B; solid effort throughout, but there were definitely areas that could use improvement.

In Game Two, Chicago will make adjustments, especially defensively; I would expect for the Bulls to pack the lane again and try to make the Cavs beat them from outside.

If Chicago's bigs aren't in foul trouble again, they can use a few more hacks to put the Cavs on the line and make them earn their points as well.

One down, 15 to go.