Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Chicago Bulls: Game 4 Grades and Analysis

LeBron James scored 25 points and hit a jump shot at the buzzer to lift the Cleveland Cavaliers to an 86-84 win over the Chicago Bulls at the United Center Sunday afternoon and help them tie their second-round Eastern Conference playoff series, 2-2.

This was a strange game, to say the least.

The Bulls got off to a great start, opening up a 37-29 lead in the second period. However, Cleveland ripped off a 16-0 run as Chicago went nearly seven minutes without scoring.

By halftime, the Cavaliers led 49-45.

The Bulls looked much better in the third quarter, outscoring the Cavs 23-12 and taking a 68-57 lead late in the period. Cleveland would score the last four points of the frame, trimming Chicago's advantage to 68-61 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Cavaliers went on 19-5 run to begin the period, but the Bulls battled back, tying the game at 84 on a Derrick Rose layup with 9.4 seconds remaining.

David Blatt actually tried calling timeout after the Rose make, even though he had none left. The officials did not see him, and he was thankful after the game, per Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beach Journal:

Then, off an inbound play with 1.5 seconds on the clock, James drained a jumper in front of the Chicago bench to give Cleveland the victory.

Rose led the Bulls with 31 points. Pau Gasol sat with a hamstring injury.

Neither team shot the ball well, with the Cavaliers making only 39 percent of their shots and the Bulls shooting the rock at a 36 percent clip.

Cleveland had a big edge at the free-throw line, however, making 23 foul shots to Chicago's 11.

Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau felt the team missed some shots it could have made, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune:

Mike Dunleavy lamented the fact that his team simply could not close the Cavs out down the stretch, per Johnson:

Meanwhile, Joakim Noah is confident his club can get a win on the road, also per Johnson:

Game 5 is at Quicken Loans Arena Tuesday night at 7 p.m. ET. Catch the action on TNT.

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS	GRADE
CHICAGO BULLS	GRADE
LeBron James	D+
Kyrie Irving	D-
Timofey Mozgov	A
J.R. Smith	B
Tristan Thompson	B+
Rest of Team	F
Derrick Rose	A+
Joakim Noah	B
Jimmy Butler	C
Taj Gibson	C
Mike Dunleavy	F
Rest of Team	F

Cleveland Cavaliers

LeBron James: D+

What a strange game for James.

Yes, he hit the game-winner, but he struggled mightily up until that point. He ended up shooting 10-of-30 (yes; LeBron shot 10-of-30) and misfired on six of his seven three-point tries. There were a few times when he got mismatches, but instead of taking the ball inside, he settled for triples.

James, who rolled his ankle in the third quarter but returned, also committed eight turnovers, getting a little overly aggressive with the ball in his hands. He was stripped going to the basket on a couple of occasions and picked up three offensive fouls.

On the surface, his stats look good: 25 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists.

However, this was not even close to the type of dominant LeBron James performances we have seen in past postseasons.

Kyrie Irving: D-

Kyrie Irving has a sore foot, and it clearly limited him in Game 4.

The normally explosive point guard went just 2-of-11 from the field, missing several shots inside and displaying little to no separation ability on his drives.

He was able to get to the free-throw line, going 8-of-8, but that was about all he contributed offensively.

Defensively, Irving was such a disaster early on that the Cavaliers took him off Rose and assigned him to Mike Dunleavy.

Timofey Mozgov: A

Timofey Mozgov was terrific.

The center posted 15 points and nine rebounds, going 4-of-5 from the floor. He was also able to use his size to draw contact inside and was awarded with eight free-throw attempts (he made seven) because of it.

Mozgov was also great defensively, blocking three shots and altering plenty of others due to his presence and long wingspan.

He even made some nice passes and registered three assists.

J.R. Smith: B

J.R. Smith was invisible for most of the game, and then the fourth quarter rolled around.

Smith scored 11 of his 13 points in the final frame, knocking down three huge triples and helping the Cavs rally back into the contest. He did a tremendous job of getting off quick shots around screens.

Smith had some lapses defensively, but he was efficient offensively, shooting 5-of-10 and making three of his six attempts from deep.

Tristan Thompson: B+

Tristan Thompson had a very solid game.

The forward scored 12 points off 5-of-6 shooting, finishing thunderous dunks inside. He was also decent on the glass, grabbing six boards. When he wasn't getting the rebounds, he was deflecting the ball away from Bulls players.

Good outing from the big man.

Rest of Team: F

Iman Shumpert had a horrific contest, missing seven of his eight field-goal attempts and going just 1-of-6 from long distance. He had numerous open looks but failed to convert.

Matthew Dellevedova played 17 minutes but made little to no impact, scoring two points and missing a couple of open three-pointers.

Kendrick Perkins scored two points in two minutes.

Chicago Bulls

Derrick Rose: A+

Derrick Rose was terrific.

He poured in 31 points off an 11-of-23 clip, abusing the Cavaliers defense and getting to the rack at will. In a truly vintage Rose performance, he finished ridiculously tough layups around the rim and demonstrated inhuman-like body control.

Rose was able to get to the charity stripe, too, going 7-of-7.

He did take an ill-advised three-pointer late in the contest, but he was so brilliant up until that point that it's hard to penalize him for it.

Joakim Noah: B

Joakim Noah played with more energy than he had all series in Game 4.

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

The fiery big man was all over the place, particularly on the glass. Noah tallied 15 rebounds, six coming on the offensive end. He also forced loose-ball fouls on rebound attempts.

The problem was, Noah had a bunch of lapses offensively.

He shot only 4-of-12, taking some wild, contested layups. He also had some issues with clock management, making poor decisions late in the 24.

Still, it's good to see Noah this active. He scored eight points.

Jimmy Butler: C

Jimmy Butler had a so-so outing.

While he played marvelous defense on James for much of the contest, he struggled with his shot, going just 8-of-21 and missing some very makeable shots. He did make three triples, but on the other side of the coin, he failed to get to the free-throw line.

Butler recorded 19 points, five rebounds and three steals.

Not bad, but he needs to be better in Game 5.

Taj Gibson: C

Taj Gibson was active, but he had a rough afternoon offensively.

Starting in place of the injured Pau Gasol (hamstring), Gibson went just 2-of-7 from the floor. There were a couple of times where Gibson appeared to have opportunities for dunks, but he put the ball on the floor and was stripped.

He was solid on the boards, collecting eight rebounds. He scored six points.

Mike Dunleavy: F

Mike Dunleavy was brutal.

The sharpshooter could not buy a bucket in Game 4, going 1-of-7 from the floor and misfiring on three of his four three-point attempts.

Dunleavy got several good looks, but he was not able to capitalize.

To make matters worse, he committed five fouls.

Rest of Team: F

Tony Snell was the only Bulls reserve who had an even mildly solid performance. The second-year guard scored seven points off the bench, shooting 3-of-7 and pulling down four rebounds.

Otherwise, Chicago's pine was awful.

Nikola Mirotic had one of the worst games of his young career, missing eight of his nine shots and air-balling a wide-open three-pointer. He also looked lost defensively, overplaying on pick-and-rolls and failing to recover.

Kirk Hinrich and Aaron Brooks combined for six points in limited minutes.