There are ways you can tell right away it`s not going to be your day.
Your horn going off while you`re driving behind the Hell`s Angels is one way.
Which sort of describes the Cleveland Cavaliers` efforts Tuesday night in their 103-89 Game 1 Eastern Conference finals loss to the Bulls.
”We`ve got to take our time and do what we want to do, operate the way we want to,” said Brad Daugherty, who led the Cavaliers with 23 points. ”We came out early and tried to do the things they were doing, play their type of game, and evidently we`re not as good as they are at that.
”They`re the defending world champions,” Daugherty noted. ”They want to get up and down the court. We want to slow the basketball down a little bit and play a little more half-court basketball. But we didn`t do that early. We did that later. But when you`re behind, they don`t give you opportunities to keep coming.”
Which is what the Cavaliers had to do after falling behind by 20 in the second quarter.
”We dug ourselves a hole early,” said Mark Price, who had 21 points and nine assists. ”You can`t do that against a team of this caliber.
”This was our first experience at this (conference finals) level,” said Price, ”and they taught us what kind of intensity you have to play at. We`ll have to come ready for that Thursday.”
Or that bird they hear singing outside their window will be a buzzard. It`s not great to be down 2-0.
”We are a better team than we showed,” said Cavaliers coach Lenny Wilkens. ”We`ll show that next time we`re on the floor. It`s one game. This is a seven-game series.”
But it only takes four to win, and the way the Bulls played Tuesday-and the Cavaliers didn`t-that might not be too far off.
The Bulls, especially Horace Grant with seven rebounds, were more effective on the offensive boards, consistently denying the Cavaliers chances to make a comeback when they cut the Bulls` lead to below 10 points several times in the second half. And the Bulls moved the ball smartly for 33 assists, ball movement that had been missing against the Knicks.
But, more importantly, they were effective at the most important play. A coach once said there are only two plays: put the ball in the basket and
”South Pacific.”
Especially early, the Bulls were enjoying an enchanted evening while everything was going in.
The Cavaliers` defense, unlike the Knicks` of recent past, accepts being passive. Cleveland, with Larry Nance and John Williams, likes to collapse into a zone-like umbrella defense, challenging opponents to hit their outside shots.
It`s one reason the Bulls have had success against Cleveland. The Bulls have been the league`s overall best shooting team the last two seasons, and being allowed to run their offense, they hit 68 percent of their shots in the first quarter when they went up by nine and were at 57 percent at halftime, when they led 52-40. Against the Knicks, the Bulls hit more than 50 percent of their shots only in Game 7.
”We wanted them to shoot jumpers,” said Craig Ehlo. ”It just happened they hit a few. We just have to be more aggressive.”
But that is not the Cavaliers` style.
”You have to play the way you play,” said Wilkens.
The Knicks, being well prepared and tough, were able to squash the Bulls` triangle offense like only Detroit had. By holding players as they make their cuts, the offense can be rendered harmless, a ploy Detroit is adept at. New York was able to do the same, forcing the Bulls farther away from the basket for operating room.
By contrast, the Bulls bolted ahead 22-14 Tuesday with their first seven baskets from inside. The Bulls even used Cleveland`s favorite screen-roll play to get Bill Cartwright one of his three first-quarter baskets.
And that has always been important for the Bulls. They like to go to Cartwright early, which opens the outside for their shooters.
But the Cavaliers couldn`t get their screen-roll moving because the Bulls jumped out with a double-team and the Cavaliers weren`t able to move the ball quickly.
”They jump their big man at you and double, and we`ve got to move the ball better. We didn`t move the ball at all,” said Ehlo.
The Cavaliers` defense relies primarily on their shot-blockers, but they didn`t get their first block until midway through the second quarter.
The Cavaliers also were trying to guard against chasing the Bulls in a track meet, which the game became at the beginning when the Bulls turned four of Cleveland`s six first-quarter turnovers into fast-break baskets.
”Sunday (Game 7 over Boston) was a big, big win for us,” said Ehlo, who didn`t hit his first shot Tuesday until 1:49 remained in the game, ”and I think that took something out of us. I know it did for me.”
It was not to be. Price, one of the league`s best free-throw shooters, missed one of seven Cavaliers free throws (the Bulls were 19 for 19), and a loose ball late in the first quarter tipped by three Cavaliers went to Cartwright alone underneath for a score.
”When it rains it pours,” said Price.
The Cavaliers tried some matchup changes, with Nance jumping onto Pippen occasionally and Mike Sanders out on Jordan. But their efforts were futile as the Bulls moved with finesse and without fear.
Early in the second quarter, John Williams helped Pippen up after Pippen went down on a drive and asked him if he were OK, and later Nance held Jordan so he wouldn`t fall after a foul on a drive.
The teams played to their nicknames, Cleveland being most Cavalier while the Bulls did the goring.
