J.R Smith and Kevin Love would be out of commission for this game. Smith would be serving his first of two suspensions due to an incident that occurred in the previous series against Jae Crowder. Love was on the sideline due to a shoulder injury.

Cleveland got off to a sluggish start, as they logged 15 points in the first stanza of the game, which turned out to be the third fewest points in a quarter put up in playoff history by any team. Chicago on the other hand, had 27 first quarter points, led by Mike Dunleavy Jr., who contributed with 13 points while being five of five from the field. Kyrie Irving, who made only one of his first six shot attempts, began to cut down the Bulls in the second period, scoring ten straight points. At halftime, Chicago was still up 49-44, but was outscored in the second quarter 29-22. Cleveland trailed by as many as 16 in the first half. Irving was leading his team at the half with 17 points while Rose had 16 for the Bulls.

During the third frame, Windy City went on a 10-0 run to push its lead to 15 points. The Bulls kept trying to pull away but Cleveland would not back away, as the Cavs continued to climb back up. With 1:33 remaining in the game, it was a four-point game in favor of Chicago. Jimmy Butler would then rise to the occasion, as he drained a bank shot with 30 seconds remaining to seal the deal. Rose seemed to be in pain in the final seconds of regulation as his shoulder collided but would later go on to say in the post game interview, “It was just a stinger.”

The Cavaliers ended the game shooting 42 percent from the field while also never holding a lead. Chicago hit 50 percent of their shot attempts while going 56 percent from behind the 3-point arc. Rose concluded the game with 25 points while Jimmy Butler added 20 points. Pau Gasol picked up his offense in the second half, as he finished with 21 points. Irving led the Cavaliers with 30 points while Lebron James chipped in with 19. Iman Shumpert had a playoff career high with 22 points. Cleveland was able to only get 9 points from their bench.
Game two will be on Wednesday, May 6th at 7:00 P.M. EST. The game will be televised on TNT.           .

VAVEL Logo
About the author