Welcome to The Morning After, where we break down the happenings from the night before in the National Basketball Association. Crash out early? Memory a bit fuzzy after one too many? No worries, we’ve got you covered — check back every morning throughout the playoffs for your daily fix.
IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING
LeBron James is heading back home having tilted the balance of this series in his team’s favour with his buzzer-beating dagger Sunday night.
With 1.5 seconds on the clock, James nailed a fadeaway in front of the Chicago Bulls bench to win a nail-biter 86–84, evening the series up 2-2 with Game 5 back in Cleveland on Tuesday.
LeBron was spectacular on Sunday when his team needed him most. With Kyrie Irving registering just 12 points (on 2-10 shooting) and no other Cav scoring more than 15, the self-appointed King overcame a twisted ankle and came through with 25 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists (he’s flirting with a triple-double this series so far—averaging 26/11/9) to secure the win and avoid going down 3-1.
And all despite the actions of Cavaliers rookie head coach David Blatt, who twice jeopardized his team—once by calling timeout when Cleveland had none left, and again on his last-second play call where he designated James as the inbounds passer.
LeBron had other ideas (like, you know, following conventional logic and putting the ball in the hands of the best playmaker of a generation), and wasn’t shy about taking control of the game when it mattered most.
“To be honest, the play that was drawn up, I scratched it,” he said after the game. “I just told coach, ‘Give me the ball.’ We’re either going to go to overtime or I’m going to win it for us. It was that simple.”
Right on.
THIS IS WHY THEY BROUGHT ME HERE
Now that Paul Pierce has moved on from that catchphrase, for the foreseeable future, to various iterations of “I called game!” (here’s hoping anyway), perhaps—for one day at least—we can transfer “This is why they brought me here” to J.R. Smith.
OK, so Smith had a pretty lousy game through three quarters (the gunner had just two points heading into the final frame), but his 11-point outburst in the fourth, coupled with a Chicago cold streak, helped bring Cleveland back into a game that they trailed late.
He was a perfect 4-4 from the field in the fourth, including three threes.
Both Chicago and Cleveland are going to be expecting production from their stars (to wit: Derrick Rose scored 31 and Jimmy Butler continued his strong series for Chicago) but, it’s these kinds of outbursts from role players that could make the difference in the series- a hot shooting night from, say, Mike Dunleavy or Nikola Mirotic. Tristan Thompson going all Dennis Rodman on the glass. Or, as was the case on this night, J.R. Smith catching fire when it matters most.
Despite being acquired for next-to-nothing (read: Dion Waiters) from the New York Knicks along with Iman Shumpert in January, the Cavs’ thin bench meant they’d be relying on Smith’s scoring quite a bit. And for one night at least, Smith delivered.
MONEY FOR NOTHING (AND YOUR TRIPS FOR FREE)
34 attempts at the free-throw line for Los Angeles Clippers centre DeAndre Jordan last night. Thirty-four!
Houston let all of 3:40 go by in game four before they started employing the Hack-A-Jordan strategy, only to see it backfire mightily, as bench scrub after bench scrub was brought out onto the floor to expend their fouls to get Jordan- a notoriously awful foul shooter who makes Shaq look like Rick Barry- to the charity stripe.
Not only did it hurt the Rockets’ depth, but also took them away from their rhythm- and made for a rough watch for the fans. Unless, of course, you’re a Clippers fan, because now up 3-1 in the series following the 128-95 win, they’re all but a lock to move on.
When he wasn’t at the line, Jordan was keeping busy in the paint, where he, Blake Griffin, Matt Barnes, and Big Baby Davis all caused problems for Houston, scoring 1.53 points per possession down low versus the Rockets’ 0.53, according to SportVU.
Jordan finished with a team-high 26 points and 17 rebounds; Dwight Howard fouled out, registering just seven points and six boards in 18 minutes of action.
