The Chicago Bulls walked into The Q and stole a game from the Cavaliers with an 99-92 win on Monday night to take Game 1 of the Eastern semifinals.
Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol led the charge. Rose put in 25 points, five boards and five assists while Gasol went for 21 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
The Cavaliers got off to a sluggish start and allowed the Bulls to go up by as many as 16 in the first half. They started the game 1-of-8 from the field and it resulted in an early 18-5 lead for the Bulls.
Chicago took the energy right out of the sold-out building.
Coach David Blatt elected to go with a small-ball lineup by inserting Mike Miller and Iman Shumpert into the starting five in place of J.R. Smith (suspended) and Kevin Love (shoulder surgery).
Joakim Noah guarded the quicker Shumpert. On the surface it looked like an advantage for Cleveland, but Chicago’s game plan was to have Noah play off of Shumpert to entice him into taking outside shots.
They figured the more shots he launched, the fewer for LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. It worked early as Shumpert went 2-of-7 in the first quarter and four of the attempts were three-pointers. Even though Shumpert registered a playoff-high 22 points and was 4-of-10 from deep, the Bulls’ strategy ignited their quick start.
Irving struggled early, missing six of his first seven shots. However, he got to the free throw line and worked himself into a rhythm. His second-quarter outburst of 14 points sparked a 10-0 rally to get the Cavaliers back in the game.
Cleveland cut the lead to five at the half and pulled into a tie early in third. But the Bulls trumped that with a 15-0 run led by a lethal dose of the Rose-Gasol two-man pick-and-pop game that saw Gasol hit midrange jumper after jumper. The Cavaliers were slow to rotate and slower in adjusting their coverage.
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