Cavaliers: Hansen, JR, Covington, TT, Jokić
Howard won the jump ball for the Bulls and secured the opening offensive opportunity.
After the start, Irving and Butler successively used pick-and-roll plays with Howard for the Bulls.
Hoiberg’s strategy was clear: the Cavaliers’ current offense revolves around Hansen’s pick-and-rolls. Hansen is hard to target, but Jokić’s weakness is defending smaller players, which can be exploited.
In their regular-season matchup, Butler used mismatches to get Jokić into foul trouble.
However, there was a slight discrepancy between theory and reality.
Howard’s pick-and-roll quality was just like last season’s Jokić, quickly rolling to the basket without properly screening.
This wasn’t intentional. Whether with the Magic or the Nets, Howard has been the final target of pick-and-roll plays. The quicker he rolls, the more chances he gets to score easy points.
Over time, his pick-and-rolls became symbolic, lightly screening and then rolling to the basket quickly.
However, Hoiberg’s main goal was to challenge Jokić, and with such ineffective screens, neither Hansen nor Covington would switch defenses.
So, at the end of a play, the Bulls’ tactic became Irving taking on Hansen one-on-one.
The outcome was predictable: Irving took a contested shot, which missed due to heavy interference.
However, Howard grabbed the offensive rebound, brushed off Jokić, and scored.
Jokić is strong, but he’s still at a disadvantage against Howard.
Hansen and Jokić ran a pick-and-roll, and after splitting the defense, Hansen hit a mid-range shot over Howard.
Due to back injuries and age, Howard’s physical condition has significantly declined compared to his peak. Back in his Magic days, that shot would definitely have been a dunk, not a layup, and the decline affects more than just offense.
Of course, Hansen’s strategy was the same as when playing the Warriors—forcing Howard to step out with his shooting, even if he misses, Gibson alone wouldn’t out-rebound TT and Jokić.
He just opened with a much better shooting touch than against the Warriors.
Hoiberg got up and motioned for a tactical change to Irving from the sidelines.
As the Bulls moved up-court, Howard stopped setting high screens and instead posted up against Jokić down low.
This tactic was rare for these Bulls.
Just looking at the average stats shows that Howard’s tactical role didn’t increase much from his time with the Hawks.
But it was clear that Hoiberg was determined to exploit Jokić’s weaknesses tonight.
Howard’s isolation play succeeded.
He drove after a post-up battle, banking it in from close range.
Howard’s toughest matchups were those with steady bases and similar strength in the post, like O’Neal and Yao Ming. They weren’t just sturdy; one was strong, the other tall, making Howard’s post moves seem crude against them.
Otherwise, Howard’s low-post game has been quite decent; if not, the Magic wouldn’t have succeeded with their One Star and Four Shooters strategy.
Opponents collapsing into the paint the moment he got the ball was a common sight.
Second-year Jokić faced his first on-court challenge.
Last season, he faced players in the playoffs like the transformed "Gao Yuanyuan" Hibbert, Valanciunas from Europe, the soft-playing Big Gasol, and Mozgov, who saw little subsequent action.
This season, instead of facing the anticipated Antetokounmpo in the first round, he faced Australian rookie Thon Maker.
Though no longer at his peak, Howard was far superior to those players.
And as play transitioned, Howard also initiated frequent off-ball physical contact with Jokić.
Hansen continued running pick-and-rolls with Jokić, and the Bulls directly double-teamed Hansen this time.
Hansen lobbed it to Jokić.
Jokić caught it and quickly went up for a layup.
But at the moment of his shot, Howard spun around and charged in, leaping high to swat Jokić’s attempt out of bounds.
After the block, Howard deliberately bumped Jokić and then roared excitedly toward the sidelines.
The arena buzzed with excitement.
Playing basketball is like warfare; once an opponent senses weakness, their attack only gets fiercer.
And it was obvious that, just like Irving’s words ignited Cleveland’s fans, Wade’s comments unified the Bulls in their battle call.
Hansen couldn’t afford to worry about Jokić now because the Bulls showed they weren’t weak, clawing their way from the playoff fringe to the upper bracket in the second half of the season.
If they gained momentum, tonight’s game, or even the entire series, would be tough.
There were 7 seconds left on the Cavaliers’ shot clock, a desperate "buzzer-beater" situation.
Hansen and TT performed an off-ball screen, got the inbound pass from Jokić, and with a breakthrough fake, forced Gibson to retreat, followed by a swift shot from the perimeter.
Realizing his hot start, he naturally increased his mid and long-range attempts.
Accompanied by a crisp sound, Hansen’s three-pointer sliced through the net! Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭·𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢·𝗇𝗲𝘵
The energy that Howard’s block had suppressed suddenly reignited the arena’s atmosphere.
The atmosphere quickly shifted to defensive cheers.
Howard continued posting up, this time with Jokić semi-fronting to disrupt him.