NBA Playoff Schedule 2015: TV, Live Stream Info for Sunday's Round 2 Games
Both of NBA's No. 2 seeds enter Saturday with their backs against the wall, needing a Game 4 victory to avoid slipping one step closer to their demise.
The Cleveland Cavaliers appeared to regain control over the Chicago Bulls, but Derrick Rose nailed a fortuitous three-pointer as time expired, putting Cleveland back in a hole. With one star out and another ailing, LeBron James is suddenly again lacking a strong supporting cast.
Back to full strength, the Los Angeles Clippers steamrolled the Houston Rockets to take Game 3. Yet they pulled away while the returning Chris Paul took a breather, allowing the star to ease his hamstring back into action.
Neither Cleveland nor Houston wants to dig the hole deeper into a 3-1 deficit. Sunday presents each club with a pivotal Game 4 to even the score on the road.
| 3:30 p.m. | Cleveland Cavaliers | Chicago Bulls | CHI 2-1 | ABC |
| 8:30 p.m. | Houston Rockets | Los Angeles Clippers | LAC 2-1 | TNT |
Cleveland Cavaliers at Chicago Bulls
The Cavaliers are in trouble.
Rose's serendipitously banked buzzer-beater gave the Bulls the 2-1 series edge, swinging the odds of finally besting James in their favor. As ESPN Stats & Info detailed before Friday night, Game 3 carries significant importance when splitting a stalemate:
Without Kevin Love, Cleveland's sluggish offense is averaging 98 points per game against Chicago. Both James and Kyrie Irving are relying heavily on isolation scoring, with James shooting an uncharacteristic 39.5 percent and Irving perched at unimpressive 40.0 percent.
The 23-year-old point guard—who went 3-of-13 with no assists during a dreadful Game 3—admitted to playing through a strained right foot.
"I have been trying to get treatment since then," Irving told Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. "I just have to stay ready to play. There are no excuses. And I have to play through it... Tonight, I'm not hanging my head nor using a bad foot as an excuse."
His ailments have forced James to turn the clocks back to his old Cleveland days and carry the club on his back. Despite nearly averaging a triple-double, he converted just eight of 25 field-goal attempts on Friday, missing six threes to extend his postseason funk to 5-of-32 from long range.
Rose has not been the king of efficiency, either, recording a 37.5 field-goal percentage this series. But these ugly defensive deadlocks work in Chicago's favor. Coach Tom Thibodeau remembering he has Nikola Mirotic at least provided some offensive spark, and it'd behoove the Bulls to keep redistributing him some of the slumping Joakim Noah's minutes if Pau Gasol is good to go.
Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Clippers
On an evening where Paul, James Harden, Blake Griffin and Dwight Howard shared the court, Austin Rivers swayed an NBA playoff game.
Averaging a career 7.0 points per game with a 39.7 field-goal percentage, the coach's son previously served as no more than a punchline. On Friday night, however, he showcased the value of nepotism by catching fire for 25 points, leading a late 23-0 run.
Neither Austin nor head coach Doc Rivers would get swept up in emotion over the euphoric evening. The 22-year-old continued to skid away from the father-son storyline, per ESPNLosAngeles.com's Arash Markazi:
"Our relationship has just kind of always been that. It's always been coach-player. That's the way it's always been. He grew up in Boston. I grew up in Orlando. Every time we talk, it's always basketball. Now when I came here, it's kind of been solidified. He’s the coach, I'm the player. He's hard on me. You ask him, you ask anyone—he's hard on me, but it's just because he wants the best out of me.
"
Although his burning heat check will prove a one-off deal, the in-season acquisition is shooting 47.9 percent this postseason and averaging 17.3 points per game against Houston. If he can spell the hobbled Paul and give the Clippers' bench another capable scorer beyond Jamal Crawford, that's a major plus for a team that has generated 350 points through three games.
As for the Rockets, well, they just got destroyed by Austin Rivers after splitting two home games sans Paul. They needed 64 free-throw attempts to edge out Game 2 despite missing 21 foul shots and 22 three-pointers.
Once again, they faltered in both areas, going 11-of-33 from downtown and 18-of-31 from the charity stripe. For the first time this postseason, they were held below 100 points on Friday. Not only are they failing to execute the hallmarks of their offense, their defense is regressing without Patrick Beverley in the fold.
If the Rockets don't recover on Sunday night, they're in deep jeopardy.
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