Cavs vs BULLS Thurs Feb 12th @ 7:00pm on TNT

[Axl Rose]

And people forgot how important Dunleavy is to this Bulls team.

Snells emergence has been huge aswell

 

[Scoot26]

Trap game for what? The ASG? lol

Well, LeBron certainly played like he was ready for a week off, minus the actually AS game itself.

 

[knoxville7]

LeLoser clearly doesn't understand what the meaning of a trap game is :rolling:

 

[The Hawk]

My highlight of the entire night was watching Lebron at the top with Mirotic guarding him one on one face up and watch Lebron brick the shot way left off of the back board!!!! Clank!!!!!

 

[Diddy1122]

Well, LeBron certainly played like he was ready for a week off, minus the actually AS game itself.

And Miller, Barkley, & Shaq all said the Cavs didn't care about the game. Yet not a single one of those morons called LeBron or the Cavs out for it. This was a game against a division rival, which would have given them the division lead as well as move them up 2 playoff spots heading into the All-Star break, and both the Cavs and the TV crew are brushing it off like it's no big thing. IT IS A BIG THING.

They can come up with all the excuses that they want (Love was out - Coach Blatt; It's cold at the UC - Reggie Miller; Cavs are already on the AS break - Shaq; A trap game, that's all it is - LeBron) but if this is the attitude that they are bringing into a measuring stick game against a division rival, they're going to be in some trouble come playoff time. Wasn't LeBron going to Cleveland to teach the young players the "right" way to win & how to be a "champion"? Something tells me that LeBron being a champion had more to do with Wade than anyone thinks.

 

[The Hawk]

And Miller, Barkley, & Shaq all said the Cavs didn't care about the game. Yet not a single one of those morons called LeBron or the Cavs out for it. This was a game against a division rival, which would have given them the division lead as well as move them up 2 playoff spots heading into the All-Star break, and both the Cavs and the TV crew are brushing it off like it's no big thing. IT IS A BIG THING.

They can come up with all the excuses that they want (Love was out - Coach Blatt; It's cold at the UC - Reggie Miller; Cavs are already on the AS break - Shaq; A trap game, that's all it is - LeBron) but if this is the attitude that they are bringing into a measuring stick game against a division rival, they're going to be in some trouble come playoff time. Wasn't LeBron going to Cleveland to teach the young players the "right" way to win & how to be a "champion"? Something tells me that LeBron being a champion had more to do with Wade than anyone thinks.

Poor fat Lebron. He is morphing into Charles Barkely after Sir Charles was out of the game for twenty years. Oh.... and yeah, Bron....quit playing with your titties on national TV. If your nipples are getting hard, maybe you might have put a tee shirt on yourself. I love also how some of those talking hat assholes tried to make excuses for the poor excuse for a role model that he is. there was a half ass "pass" that he made that resulted on a back court violation and the bozo guy said that the other guy was in the wrong place. Hilarious.

 

[Rush]

This was my first game ever at the United Center ( Live in NC ) .

Seeing Rose go coast to coast....was amazing.

 

[houheffna]

Well, LeBron certainly played like he was ready for a week off, minus the actually AS game itself.

The whole team did. That is why you don't put anything into the game's outcome, you do look at individual performances to gauge though. Snell, Rose and Noah were impressive. Lebron isn't convinced that this Bulls team can beat him. They will have to prove it...

I can't say I believe it either.

 

[houheffna]

And Miller, Barkley, & Shaq all said the Cavs didn't care about the game. Yet not a single one of those morons called LeBron or the Cavs out for it. This was a game against a division rival, which would have given them the division lead as well as move them up 2 playoff spots heading into the All-Star break, and both the Cavs and the TV crew are brushing it off like it's no big thing. IT IS A BIG THING.

They can come up with all the excuses that they want (Love was out - Coach Blatt; It's cold at the UC - Reggie Miller; Cavs are already on the AS break - Shaq; A trap game, that's all it is - LeBron) but if this is the attitude that they are bringing into a measuring stick game against a division rival, they're going to be in some trouble come playoff time. Wasn't LeBron going to Cleveland to teach the young players the "right" way to win & how to be a "champion"? Something tells me that LeBron being a champion had more to do with Wade than anyone thinks.

You should probably stop smoking that "something". It was the same way when Lebron played in Miami and Wade was part of it. It got to the place where Lebron, Wade, the whole Heat team didn't worry about Bulls' regular season games as much as the Bulls did.

A LOT of teams AND COACHES feel the same way about games. The Spurs come to mind.

 

[Shepard]

The whole team did. That is why you don't put anything into the game's outcome, you do look at individual performances to gauge though. Snell, Rose and Noah were impressive. Lebron isn't convinced that this Bulls team can beat him. They will have to prove it...

I can't say I believe it either.

I'm almost always on board with your LeBron superiority in that until the Bulls at least challenge him in the playoffs then we can't expect the Bulls to beat him. However, this Cleveland team isn't very good. While I agree Cleveland gave up relatively easily the other night- thats how bad they are defensively with or without effort.

Love LeBron all you want (you should), but the Cavs defensively outside of him isn't half as good as what he had in Miami.

If the Bulls are healthy and hit their stride- they're better than Cleveland.

 

[Crystallas]

And Miller, Barkley, & Shaq all said the Cavs didn't care about the game. Yet not a single one of those morons called LeBron or the Cavs out for it. This was a game against a division rival, which would have given them the division lead as well as move them up 2 playoff spots heading into the All-Star break, and both the Cavs and the TV crew are brushing it off like it's no big thing. IT IS A BIG THING.

This team plays better without a spotlight. I'm totes cool with the disrespect at this point of the season.

 

[houheffna]

I'm almost always on board with your LeBron superiority in that until the Bulls at least challenge him in the playoffs then we can't expect the Bulls to beat him. However, this Cleveland team isn't very good. While I agree Cleveland gave up relatively easily the other night- thats how bad they are defensively with or without effort.

Love LeBron all you want (you should), but the Cavs defensively outside of him isn't half as good as what he had in Miami.

If the Bulls are healthy and hit their stride- they're better than Cleveland.

In Miami, Lebron had to guard all 5 positions, he was by far the superior defender on that team. By the way, this Bulls team's defense isn't half as good as the one that Lebron beat in 2011 either. And I don't know if you've noticed, but while the Bulls were experiencing some slippage for a while, the Cavs went on a very nice winning streak. And Lebron has played better also. If they get it together, and it appears they are getting it together...Bulls will have a hard time beating them.

I don't recall Lebron being an easy out for any team in the East.

 

[Axl Rose]

the Mozgov/JR trade has been fantastic for them so far

JR is focused and locked in but i have to question how long it will last

i remember his 6th man year he looked like a new man then imploded in the playoffs because he stayed out all night in the clubs (although hes in Cleveland now so this might not be a problem)

 

[Diddy1122]

You should probably stop smoking that "something". It was the same way when Lebron played in Miami and Wade was part of it. It got to the place where Lebron, Wade, the whole Heat team didn't worry about Bulls' regular season games as much as the Bulls did.

A LOT of teams AND COACHES feel the same way about games. The Spurs come to mind.

The majority of those games were close so it's not like they were rolling over and playing like they were "trap games" all the time. The games were always chippy. Another sign that the teams ACTUALLY played with fire when facing each other. Not A LOT of teams AND COACHES feel the same way as Lebron about games. I would say it's the exact opposite, ESPECIALLY in the Western Conference. Do you think just because Pop rests his players and trusts his bench that he doesn't care about the outcome of those games? You need to watch some more post game interviews with Pop. And you would NEVER see Duncan telling a young teammate on the sidelines that it's ok that we don't have it tonight because this game doesn't matter at all.

Pop can rest his players & still win because he's instilled "winning attitudes" in the players on his team, who compete hard NO MATTER WHAT team they are facing. Lebron sits out & the Cavs lose all but 1 game despite having two other all-stars on the roster. And not only do they lose, but badly to bad teams. It's an apples and oranges comparison man.

But I dunno maybe you're correct. Maybe blowing off important games against division rivals is teaching players the "right" way to win. Maybe telling teammates before halftime that it's a trap game so it's ok to not care is teaching players how to be a "champion". I mean it's not like MJ cared about games when he was leading the Bulls to the greatest season ever played. I think Steve Kerr is preaching a similar message in Oakland right now. Budenholzer in Atlanta could care less too it seems.

 

[clonetrooper264]

the Mozgov/JR trade has been fantastic for them so far

JR is focused and locked in but i have to question how long it will last

i remember his 6th man year he looked like a new man then imploded in the playoffs because he stayed out all night in the clubs (although hes in Cleveland now so this might not be a problem)

Yeah everyone knew Mozgov would give them a huge boost at center. JR is who's really making that trade look good though. He may still implode, but right now he's making them look smart.

 

[houheffna]

The majority of those games were close so it's not like they were rolling over and playing like they were "trap games" all the time. The games were always chippy. Another sign that the teams ACTUALLY played with fire when facing each other. Not A LOT of teams AND COACHES feel the same way as Lebron about games. I would say it's the exact opposite, ESPECIALLY in the Western Conference. Do you think just because Pop rests his players and trusts his bench that he doesn't care about the outcome of those games? You need to watch some more post game interviews with Pop. And you would NEVER see Duncan telling a young teammate on the sidelines that it's ok that we don't have it tonight because this game doesn't matter at all.

Pop can rest his players & still win because he's instilled "winning attitudes" in the players on his team, who compete hard NO MATTER WHAT team they are facing. Lebron sits out & the Cavs lose all but 1 game despite having two other all-stars on the roster. And not only do they lose, but badly to bad teams. It's an apples and oranges comparison man.

But I dunno maybe you're correct. Maybe blowing off important games against division rivals is teaching players the "right" way to win. Maybe telling teammates before halftime that it's a trap game so it's ok to not care is teaching players how to be a "champion". I mean it's not like MJ cared about games when he was leading the Bulls to the greatest season ever played. I think Steve Kerr is preaching a similar message in Oakland right now. Budenholzer in Atlanta could care less too it seems.

Ok let's see. He called it a trap game for one of two reasons:

1. That Miami game the night before was really important to him.
2. The team is looking forward to the All star break and are pissed that they even had to play on Thursday.

I believe its the latter. Which makes most games they would have played a trap game, simply because they didn't want to be there. They'd been complaining about that game for weeks.

You infer from that one statement, that he is setting a poor example for his teammates when in essence, he could have been talking about the way his team was playing. After all, he had 31 points in the game, almost double the output of anyone else on his team. When it is all said and done, this is seems to be a case of "thou dost protest too much"...

That statement of the game being a trap game is not as egregious as some of the things said by the Bulls' franchise player. I would think those comments would be more taxing on Bulls' fans.

 

[RoseMVP1]

The Cavs are weak defensively and lack playoff experience. Both of those really work to our advantage. Jimmy Butlers ability to create his own will be a huge factor because we'll probably see lebron on Rose since Shumpert can't hold him. And we know what happened when Lebron was put on Rose in 2011.

Ultimately this team will go as far as Rose takes them.

 

[Bear Pride]

Ok let's see. He called it a trap game for one of two reasons:

1. That Miami game the night before was really important to him.
2. The team is looking forward to the All star break and are pissed that they even had to play on Thursday.

I believe its the latter. Which makes most games they would have played a trap game, simply because they didn't want to be there. They'd been complaining about that game for weeks.

You infer from that one statement, that he is setting a poor example for his teammates when in essence, he could have been talking about the way his team was playing. After all, he had 31 points in the game, almost double the output of anyone else on his team. When it is all said and done, this is seems to be a case of "thou dost protest too much"...

That statement of the game being a trap game is not as egregious as some of the things said by the Bulls' franchise player. I would think those comments would be more taxing on Bulls' fans.

I realize that LJ can do no wrong in your eyes, and Rose can do no right, but seriously, the only thing that I find that is egregious is LJ needing to use the 'trap game' excuse after playing like shit, and he did play like shit. :dunno:

 

[houheffna]

I realize that LJ can do no wrong in your eyes, and Rose can do no right, but seriously, the only thing that I find that is egregious is LJ needing to use the 'trap game' excuse after playing like shit, and he did play like shit. :dunno:

I think Lebron is a great player, when did I say Rose can do no right??? Its the total opposite with many on this forum. THE TEAM PLAYED LIKE SHIT. The problem is, Lebron doesn't care! That's a problem for the Bulls. The Cavs are getting better and Rose may have to beat Lebron James in a seven game series. Good luck with that.

Lebron James doesn't need to excuse a bad game...he's the best damn player in the world. The good far outweighs the bad. If you believe Snell's defense caused Lebron's shitty game, you're delusional.

 

[clonetrooper264]

When you score 31 points and are considered to be having a terrible game, that's telling you something.