Bulls, Cavs share similar problem
After beating Cleveland on Saturday, the Chicago Bulls are 2-0 this season against the Cavaliers, Toronto and Oklahoma City, and 1-0 against San Antonio and the L.A. Clippers.
That's 8-0 against the teams with the five best records in the NBA after Golden State. Trying to figure out why the bouncing Bulls can't keep it steady will take more time, but there were three interesting stories to come out of the big win in Cleveland:
Cavs can't run:
The day before losing to the Bulls, Cleveland fired head coach David Blatt and replaced him with assistant Tyronn Lue.
Now here's a topic that might sound familiar: Lue said he wants the Cavs to play at a faster pace, but that plan seemed to backfire against the Bulls.
Lue said the Cavs' three stars - LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love - asked to come out of Saturday's game sooner than expected. Not having those players on the floor no doubt contributed to Cleveland missing its last 16 shots of the first quarter, while the Bulls used a 13-0 run to take a lead they never relinquished.
"Early we wanted to push it, we wanted to open the floor and I think we came out and did that," Lue said, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. "And then I think we just dropped off the map. I think we got tired. I just don't think we're in good enough shape right now to play in the style that we want to play. … It kind of threw me for a loop."
Maybe Lue should commiserate with Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg. The Bulls have been trying to figure out all season how to play at a consistently fast pace.
"Just by us having a coaching change doesn't mean we're going to be better," Lue said. "We've got to change."
Mirotic in spotlight:
The feast-or-famine season continued for Nikola Mirotic. He scored 17 points against the Cavs, hitting 3 of 5 shots from 3-point range.
There rarely has been any middle ground for Mirotic. He's usually very good or very bad. The unofficial count through 43 games is 20 good, 23 bad.
There's no question Mirotic is a big key to the Bulls' fortunes, the same as Doug McDermott and Tony Snell. When the young guys play well, the Bulls have impressive depth. Too often, though, the Bulls' best players have been given little support.
Did you catch this line from Jimmy Butler in the locker room, which aired live on the Channel 7 News late Saturday night?
"That's what we need from Niko," Butler said. "Hopefully he gets back in that gym and continues to work on his game so we can get that from him every night."
Will Mirotic get the message? It will be interesting to see. Remember, Butler's Dec. 19 request for Hoiberg to coach the Bulls harder was directed more to his teammates than the coach.
For his part, Mirotic talked about not getting discouraged when things go poorly.
"I talked to myself today," Mirotic said after the game, according to bulls.com. "I have not been shooting well, not feeling good on the court, but today was different. Lots of people say here you have to have a short memory and I have to learn that what happened in the past is the past, that I need to be focused on what happens today and tomorrow. I really prepared for this game and things went well on the court."
Gibson dons goggles:
Taj Gibson played well against the Cavs, finishing with 15 points and 8 rebounds while wearing goggles. He suffered a scary eye injury Friday in Boston.
"I couldn't see out of my eye last night," Gibson told reporters in Cleveland. "It was completely black. It was scary. I didn't know if I would be able to play. It was still blurry the whole game, but I just wanted to play, wanted to help the team win a game."
Gibson had some solid plays on the defensive end, as well. At one point, he shadowed Cavs shooting guard J.R. Smith from the 3-point line to under the basket, staying in Smith's shirt through several spin moves and changes of direction.
Maybe the goggles should become a permanent addition. Gibson could join the club with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kirk Hinrich.
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