James may end up guarding Rose more often

Now it's time for Cleveland to adjust to the Bulls.

Actually, that unexpected era began early in the fourth quarter of the Bulls' 108-106 Game 3 win Thursday night at United Center.

With more than eight minutes left, Cavaliers coach Mike Brown went with a small lineup that left him with Antawn Jamison and LeBron James as his biggest guys.

Without Shaquille O'Neal or Anderson Varejao clogging the middle - and allowing at least one Bulls defender to hang in the paint - Cleveland spread the floor and allowed James space to create and kick to his teammates.

As Cleveland rallied from a 13-point deficit early in the fourth quarter, James scored 13 points and handed out 5 assists that led to 13 more. He also delivered the slip-screen pass that led to a pair of Jamison free throws.

In short, the Cavaliers fared far better in (relatively) miniature form.

"I think that's something we're going to look at over the next couple of days," said James, who finished with 39 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.

"We've been really, really good this year when we've played small. We become more athletic, we become faster. Our defensive rotations are a lot faster."

Moreover, Cleveland's defensive assignments become much more intriguing.

With Derrick Rose (31 points, 7 assists) defeating every double team the Cavaliers tried, the 6-foot-9 James assumed man-to-man responsibility for the Bulls point guard over the final five minutes.

On the Bulls' last possession before James shifted over, Rose nailed a 10-foot floater with 5:05 left to give the Bulls a 94-88 lead.

From that point forward, Rose made just 2 of 5 shots as James forced him into missing a pair of tough fadeaway jumpers as well as a difficult driving layup.

"We don't want to put me on him for a long period of time," James said. "But in a game like this, I felt we had an opportunity to win and he was playing particularly well.

"I wanted to switch off on to him. We were able to match up with the other guys because they went small also.

"We'll see as the series goes on if I do move on to him a lot - or if I don't."

If James guards Rose more frequently, that forces the superstar to expend maximum effort on both ends of the floor.

When the Bulls play defense the way they want, as they did for much of Thursday night, they force James to get rid of the ball instead of attacking the basket.

Cleveland put up 35 3-pointers (after trying just 43 in the first two games) in part due to the Bulls' strategy - and partly due to the Bulls' big lead.

"They really try to shrink the floor and show a lot of bodies in the paint," said Cleveland's Anthony Parker, the 1993 Naperville Central High School graduate. "It opens it up for guys outside to hit shots."