Chicago Bulls vs. Cleveland Cavaliers: Postgame Grades and Analysis
Kyrie Irving scored 27 points, LeBron James posted a triple-double, and the Cleveland Cavaliers used a three-point barrage to take down the Chicago Bulls 99-94 at Quicken Loans Arena Easter Sunday.
The Cavaliers, who have now won 17 straight home games, made 16 three-pointers, with eight coming from J.R. Smith. He may have had a little help from his mother in this one, per Brendan Bowers of Slam Online:
Cleveland shot just 42 percent from the floor, but it made 43 percent of its long-range tries, including a pair of half-court heaves that even left head coach David Blatt scratching his head, per Bleacher Report's Ethan J. Skolnick:
The Cavs led by as many as 15 points in the second half and thwarted a Bulls rally late in the fourth quarter to hang on.
Mike Dunleavy led the Bulls with 24.
Chicago shot the three-ball well too, making 11 of its 27 attempts from deep, but 16 turnovers and an inability to string together runs cost the Bulls in the end.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau was happy with some aspects of his team's performance, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune:
The Cavaliers won the season series with the Bulls, 3-1.
| Joakim Noah | B+ |
| Pau Gasol | C+ |
| Jimmy Butler | C+ |
| Mike Dunleavy | A |
| Aaron Brooks | C- |
| Rest of Team | D |
| LeBron James | A |
| Kyrie Irving | A- |
| Kevin Love | D+ |
| J.R. Smith | A- |
| Timofey Mozgov | B |
| Rest of Team | D |
Chicago Bulls
Joakim Noah: B+
Joakim Noah may not be the same physically this season, but that competitive fire is still there.
He had a solid all-around game, posting six points, eight rebounds and seven assists. He did a terrific job of facilitating some offensive sets and was also fine defensively.
However, the best part of Noah's performance was his passion. He was vocal and expressed a clear level of disdain for Cleveland.
It is going to be awesome if these two teams meet in the playoffs.
Pau Gasol: C+
Pau Gasol made minimal impact on this game.
Early on, it looked like he had it going, knocking down a couple of mid-range jumpers off of pick-and-pops, but he cooled off quickly.
Gasol missed several open looks for the remainder of the contest and ended up shooting 6-of-13 for 12 points.
He added nine boards and four dimes.
Jimmy Butler: C+
Jimmy Butler did not have one of his finest performances.
The 2-guard shot just 6-of-14 for 16 points and was unable to get into any kind of rhythm. He missed some open looks and seemed tentative on both ends, as evidenced by his three free-throw attempts.
We are used to seeing Butler play physical defense on LeBron, but that intensity just wasn't there in this one.
Butler tallied five assists and four rebounds to go along with his point total.
Mike Dunleavy: A
Mike Dunleavy was easily Chicago's biggest offensive weapon in the loss.
The sharpshooter scored 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting, stroking four three-pointers out of six attempts. He did an incredible job of coming around screens and getting off quick shots, most of which went through the net without even drawing iron.
Dunleavy kept the Bulls in the game for stretches, and he even chipped in five boards and four dimes. He is also confident his team can play with the Cavaliers if they meet in the playoffs, per Johnson:
Dunleavy was a team-high plus-four.
Aaron Brooks: C-
Aaron Brooks may have scored 17 points on a decent 6-of-13 clip, but don't be fooled: He was anything but decent in the defeat.
Brooks was sloppy offensively, committing seven turnovers. Most of those turnovers were the result of his trying to fit unnecessary passes into tight windows or simply throwing them into traffic.
The floor general halted a couple of Chicago runs by making silly passes that were intercepted by Cleveland defenders.
Brooks also had a rough go of it defensively.
He added six assists and five rebounds.
Rest of Team: D
Nikola Mirotic's shot just was not there on Easter. He made just three of his 12 attempts, with all of them coming from beyond the arc, where he was 3-of-9.
Mirotic posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards, but this was not a good game for him.
Taj Gibson was abysmal, scoring five points on 1-of-4 shooting and recording a game-worst minus-19 in 23 minutes.
Cleveland Cavaliers
LeBron James: A
We saw shades of prime LeBron James on Easter.
He recorded a triple-double, posting 20 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. More importantly, we saw a couple of his trademark finishes with contact at the rim, and while he may not have the same lift he once did, it's still more than enough.
LeBron was also solid defensively, doing a nice job of closing off passing lanes.
He went 8-of-17 from the field.
Kyrie Irving: A-
Kyrie Irving was terrific.
He scored 27 points in a variety of ways, using screens to get to the basket and to step back and pop three-pointers. He exploited the mismatch with Brooks, taking the smaller guard into the paint.
The highlight of Irving's outing was a beyond-half-court heave with the shot clock about to expire late in the third quarter.
Irving did have a few defensive lapses that resulted in some easy Brooks buckets, but he more than made up for those miscues on the offensive end.
He shot 8-of-19, going 4-of-5 from downtown and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. He added five boards and three steals. Irving's only blemish was his five turnovers, and that prevents him from getting the full "A."
Kevin Love: D+
Once again, Kevin Love was on the outside looking in.
The big man had a rough shooting afternoon, going just 4-of-12 (3-of-8 from three-point range) and missing numerous open looks.
Love's impact on the glass was also limited, as he grabbed only four rebounds.
He did hit a big triple to put the Cavs up by nine with 1:14 remaining and also had a nice drive-and-slam early in the game, but that was about it.
Love scored 11 points.
J.R. Smith: A-
J.R. Smith took 17 shots. All 17 of them were three-pointers.
The good news is that Smith made eight of them, including a half-court heave to conclude the first half.
Most of his damage came early on in the game, as he drained six of his treys in the first 24 minutes. The majority of them were clean looks too.
Smith slowed down a bit in the second half and definitely forced up some bombs, as we are so used to seeing him do.
Still, with his 24 points, it's hard to hate on him Easter Sunday.
Timofey Mozgov: B
Timofey Mozgov had a solid afternoon.
The center scored 11 points on a 5-of-7 clip, throwing down some dunks and using his size to create space inside.
Mozgov also made a nice impact defensively, exploiting his length and bulk to bother Gasol in the paint.
He contributed eight rebounds and even three assists.
Rest of Team: D-
Tristan Thompson was pretty quiet, registering only four points and six rebounds. Normally a terrific offensive rebounder, he only corralled one of his boards on that end of the floor.
Iman Shumpert struggled. He got plenty of open looks but was unable to convert any of them, going 0-of-6 from the floor and misfiring on four three-point attempts. Just about all of them were wide-open tries from the corners.
Matthew Dellavedova scored two points; he and Thompson were the only two Cavaliers reserves to score.
What's Next?
The Bulls will head to Florida to take on the Orlando Magic Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET, which seems like a good opportunity for Chicago to bounce back.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers will head up north to take on the Milwaukee Bucks on the same day and at the same time.
