Bulls (4-6) vs Cavaliers (11-0) Recap and Reaction

Bulls vs Cavaliers 

The Cavs have been the talk of the NBA so far this year. They've gotten out to an 11-0 start and have been playing the best basketball of any team in the league this year. They are led by Donovan Mitchell, who isn't putting up his typical stat line so far this year, but is shooting career high from the field and from three. The chemistry between him and Darius Garland is much better this year and Evan Mobley has taken massive strides in improving his overall game as well. Kenny Atkinson has been pushing all the right buttons so far this year for his team. The Bulls on the other hand are just trying to figure out what in the world they have. They made an offseason trade to get Josh Giddey, which has shown to be good, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic are still on the roster. The Bulls are in the weird spot of decided to tank, or compete for a play-in spot, but in the East anything can happen with how of the teams at the top have looked. Let's dive into the recap.

Recap 

The Cavs started with a lineup of Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Isaac Okoro, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. The Bulls put out a lineup of Cody White, Zach LaVine, Patrick Williams, Nikola Vucevic, and Josh Giddey. From the start to was apparent both teams wanted to put their prints all over this game. Chicago wants to run, play fast, and shot a bunch of threes. The Cavs are similar in that they want to create a ton of mismatches for their guards and Evan Mobley to make plays. Garland and Mitchell are very good at attacking off of pick and rolls and in 1 on 1 scenarios against bigs. Evan Mobley's transformation this year into being a better overall player has been great. he's been awesome in becoming a position less basketball player the Cavs need him to be. The worst type of player in the NBA is a power forward who cannot stretch the floor and play ok defense. Mobley is terrific on defense, but the offensive game needed some work after his first two seasons in the NBA. This year he's averaging career highs in points per game and assists per game. While the three point shooting still isn't totally there, he's much better at attacking close outs and finishing around the basket. He even brought the ball up the floor in the very first possession of the game. For the Bulls Josh Giddey has been great so far this season for Chicago. He's pushing the pace great in both the half court and in transition. The Bulls front office clearly targeted him as someone they identified as a player who can play the style they want to play effectively. He's willing to shoot threes when teams leave him open and he's always been very good at breaking off a play when the defense cheats a screen on him. He's connecting on 42% his threes to start the year on higher volume than in previous years. The early portion of the first quarter Giddey and Mitchell were going back and forth with each other putting up points making plays on the offensive end. In the first quarter both sides really showed their identities well and got the shots they wanted to get. The Cavs even broke out a zone that the Bulls played well against. The Cavs are still waiting for Max Strus to get healthy from an ankle injury. He would usually take the other team's best offensive player on the perimeter. The thing also about Evan Mobley is he can switch very well and guard smaller players very well. The Mitchell and Garland backcourt is not a great defensive backcourt so playing zone and throwing some junk defenses at teams will need to done by the Cavs. The Cavs zone defensive has also is very good this season. The first quarter ended with the Bulls leading 35-34. The quarter was super back and forth and really fun to watch. The second quarter saw the Cavs bench play well and push the lead out to 10 points. Sam Merrill and Ty Jerome have been awesome this year, especially Jerome. Jerome has even been featured in some closing lineups for the Cavs this year as well. He came into the game shooting 62% from the floor and 58% from three. He's averaging 13 points per game and has really kept the momentum the Cavs have had this year. The Cavs net rating from their bench this year is +13 per 100 possessions, far and away the best in the league. The Bulls however got back into the game when Giddey started pushing the pace. He's great at setting up LaVine and White running on the wings for some easy shots and hitting Vucevic when he trails plays as well. The quarter featured some scoring outbursts from Mitchell, who had a 360 layup and LaVine who showed he is still an elite shot making in the league. I was also encouraged by the defense shown from Coby White in the quarter as well. he was able to put some pressure on the Cavs guards and force a couple of steals in the process. The Bulls as a whole are not good on defense, but when he and LaVine are engaged it makes it easier on Patrick Williams at that end of the floor. The half ended with the Cavs leading 67-66. Mitchell had 25 points in the half. He hit three after three and  put on a show. Mobley and Garland each put in 10 points. The Bulls had White with 16 points and LaVine with 13 points. All starter for the Bulls were in double figures. The Bulls also shot 57%/46% as a team from the floor and three in the half as well, making 10 threes. The Bulls in the second half got out to a nice lead. They played well and continued the hot shooting. I worry about the Garland and Mitchell defense come play off time for the Cavs. Both are not very big and really struggle to contain bigger players. I think the minute staggering they do with them is good and when Strus gets back to being healthy they can do it better. Both are elite closers for their team and have shown that throughout the year. Kenny Atkinson has also done a great job of staggering either Mobley and Mitchell together and Garland and Allen together. Both duos have been elite this year in the pick and roll and providing some spacing without the two bigs on the floor have made their offense really hard to guard. The Bulls, however were able to grow a 9 point lead before the bench of the Cavs flipped the entire game on its head. The lineup of Georges Niang, Dean Wade, Caris LeVert, Sam Merrill, and Ty Jerome played so fast and put so much shooting on the floor that the Bulls didn't know what to do. The Cavs were great in the zone and forced some stagnant possessions from the Bulls to key their offensive run. They when on a quick 9-0 run and tied the game up at 85. The Cavs were able to take the lead into the fourth quarter. They led 95-92 at the end of the 3rd. They carried the momentum into the 4th quarter and grew it out to 8 points. Jerome does not give enough credit for how amazing he has been for the Cavs so far this season. He gets everyone involved and makes the right play all of the time.  The unit with him Merrill, and Wade has caused havoc for teams as all three are shooting the cover off of the ball this year. As a team the Cavs are shooting 53% from the floor and 42% from three. Obviously these number won't hold throughout the year, but the shooting from everyone so far this year has been real. The run from the Cavs was able to give Mitchell, Garland, Mobley, and Allen rest and they came back in around the 7 minutes mark. Kenny Atkinson rotated between Jerome and LeVert for the last 7 minutes instead of Okoro and Dean Wade stayed in for Allen during the last 3 minutes of the game. The zone of the Cavs made it difficult for the Bulls and a Garland layup with a minute left sealed the game for the Cavs. They would go on to win 119-113 and move to a league best 12-0 record. The Bulls dropped to 4-7 on the year. Mitchell finished the game with 36 points and 7 made threes. Jerome, Niang, and LeVert all had 12 points off of the bench and Jerome had a team-high +21 +-. Lavine lead the Bulls with 26 points and Coby White and Nikola Vucevic each had 20 points. The Cavs bench outscored the Bulls bench 39-14. 

Reaction

The Cavs are really good. I don't know that they are the best team and I want to see them face a fully loaded Boston team, but the chemistry and sets from Kenny Atkinson have been amazing this year. They're getting a ton of production from the bench and it has allowed them to scale back the minutes on Mitchell and Garland. Both last year looked tired heading into the playoffs. The hope this year is they'll both be fresh for a deep run. I love what Evan Mobley has been doing he looks confident and he has a little nastiness to him that he hasn't in the past. He's bodying people on switches and he's been putting them in the basket so far this year. The depth is great and shooting has been even better so far this year. I am really excited to see what the Cavs look like come playoff time. 

The Bulls are fun. They won't win a lot of meaningful games this year, but it feels like they finally have a direction picked. They want to play fast and put athletic guards around Giddey and just left them run. They shoot the 4th most threes in the NBA and have been in the top 10 in offensive efficiency this year. It'll be fun to see what they do in the near future. The obvious pivots are trading Lavine and looking for something from Vucevic. The trade value for both are down compared to two seasons ago, but if a team gets desperate they could put the trigger. Matas Buzelis is good. the only other concern I have is Patrick Williams. What is he going to be? He got Kawhi comparisons and he was really young when he was drafted giving himself some value. He's been slow to start the year from behind the arc and he has to continue to stay healthy. The Bulls have him on the first year of 5 year $90 million deal this year so he'll need to find a way to fit with the franchises future plans.