Gameblog: Cavs vs. Bulls (Game 1)

If you're looking for one singular reason that the Cavs won Game 1 against the Bulls, it's the play of the big men.
While the Cavs are deep in that area - Antawn Jamison, Shaquille O'Neal, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao - the Bulls aren't particularly.  Off the bench the only really have Brad Miller, while Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson rest in the starting lineup.  The dilemma?  Afternoons like today when Noah gets worn down and in foul trouble early (6:52 of the second quarter), while the Cavs send Shaq, Z, Andy out their relentlessly.  Cavs big men outrebounded the Bulls bigs 32-16, a huge difference in teh outcome of the game.
The headlines won't read that LeBron James dominated Game 1 for one simple reason - he didn't.  He's never going to be irrelevent but the Cavs showed a balanced offense - 4-of-5 starters scored in double figures and Mo Williams, O'Neal and Antawn Jamison stepped up.
However, here's the reality of their situation:  they have to play 48 minutes.  There was two lulls - one in the third and another in the fourth - where they allowed the Bulls to get back into the game because they settled for jumpshots and three-point attempts.  At one point they missed six consecutive treys.