Since Game 1, Bulls have kept Shaq under control
Cleveland center Shaquille O'Neal had some success in Game 1 against the Bulls, scoring 12 points, but since then reality has set in.
Specifically, the 38-year-old O'Neal doesn't match up well with energetic Joakim Noah.
O'Neal didn't play at all in the fourth quarter of Games 2 and 3. He produced just 6 points and 4 rebounds in 20 minutes of action on Thursday. Backup center Zydrunas Ilgauskas played just five minutes in Game 3.
Cavaliers coach Mike Brown mentioned using the big men more often in Game 4. But smaller lineups probably make more sense, because the Bulls have piled up the fast-break points when O'Neal and Ilgauskas are on the floor.
"Right now we should be really confident, really loose," Noah said Friday. "I like our chances with any lineup out there."
LeBron James called for J.J. Hickson to get more playing time. The younger power forward is often mentioned as a player with great potential. But Hickson started two games against the Bulls late in the regular season and averaged a meager 4.5 points and 2.5 rebounds.
James thinks positive: The Cavaliers met the media inside their downtown hotel on Friday afternoon. LeBron James had this take on their Game 3 loss to the Bulls:
"There's nothing wrong with facing adversity or losing a game," he said. "You want to go through some bumps and bruises throughout the series. This is no panic mode for anybody. Chicago played a great game. We dug ourselves too big a hole.
"If we would have won that game, we would have been, 'OK, we can always just turn it on and off.' We don't want to do that. I think losing that game is going to help us in the long run."
LeBron from long range: Cleveland launched 35 shots from 3-point range in Game 3. Even though LeBron James has scored 39 and 40 points in the last two contests, the Bulls are satisfied they made him shoot plenty of long-range jumpers.
"As long as we go out there and make it tough for him, we'll live with him making those amazing shots," Luol Deng said.
Added Joakim Noah, "LeBron was talking (after Game 2) about how he's making his shots again and again and again and again. You're going to keep shooting them again and again and again, too. Keep doing your thing, keep shooting the ball. We'd rather that than have that tractor coming through the lane."
Bull horns: If it seemed as though the Bulls slipped when Joakim Noah sat down with foul trouble in Game 3, it's because they did. Noah's plus-minus in Thursday's game was plus-13, easily the best of any player. - There's a traffic alert for Sunday's Game 4, which starts at 2:30. The Greek Parade will close Halsted St. beginning at 2 p.m., between Randolph and Harrison, which means Madison Street will be blocked near I-94. From the North and Northwest Suburbs, exiting at Ogden Avenue is a better option.