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LeBron headlines in Game 4 win at United Center 121 - 98
April 25, 2010
The United Center will forever be known as The House that Jordan Built perhaps, but on Sunday afternoon, the new best number 23 rented it out for two memorable hours. In a performance that could only be described as Michael Jordanesque in nature, LeBron James carried the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 121-98 rout that left the Chicago Bulls on the brink of elimination in their Eastern Conference playoff series. The Cavaliers lead the best-of-seven affair, 3-1, and they can put the Bulls and the series to bed in Cleveland on Tuesday night. James finished with 37 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists, two steals, one blocked shot and one prediction. "We're going home to win the series," he said to anyone within earshot en route to the locker room afterward. "This will be the last time you'll see us in Chicago." After the way that James played at both ends of the court, nobody was heard to argue with him. "LeBron had a terrific game with the triple-double, but he really set the tone defensively," said head coach Mike Brown, whose team shot 53 percent in the field. "He was terrific for us on the weak side. He was great on the ball. He talked defense the whole game. That is who we are and who we want to be, especially at this time of the year." "I felt good today," James said. "I was really focused on this particular game, because it was the most important game of the season for us. I kind of wanted to force my will (on it) today." For good measure, James calmly flushed a 34-footer to beat the buzzer at the close of the third period.
Before it was over, many of the 23,058 witnesses undoubtedly had a few Jordan flashbacks along the way. "I'm not into any comparisons," Cavaliers center Shaquille O'Neal told one media member when asked to compare the two superstars. "That's what you guys do. I'm not that talented." At the outset, James made a concerted effort to get teammates involved, namely O'Neal, who had been almost invisible in the second game. The big guy scored four early points before he picked up his customary second foul midway through the period. James didn't attempt his second shot until nearly five minutes into the game, but it wasn't long before he began to get warm. The Cavaliers took the lead on a James 3-pointer with 3:36 left in the second period. The shot triggered a decisive 18-7 run in which James scored nine points himself. Some of the abuse came at the expense of rookie forward James Johnson, whom Bulls head coach Vinny Del Negro inserted into the game 31 seconds later. "That's a tough situation to be put in at the end of the half against the best player in the world," Bulls center Joakim Noah said. "Give him a break." By halftime, James had scored 17 points on only 14 total shots. He also had seven rebounds, six assists, one steal and one blocked shot in 20 minutes. A few thousand Cavaliers fans that made the trek from the Cleveland area started chants of "M-V-P! M-V-P!" at one point. It seemed that only one person wasn't thoroughly impressed.
"He's a very good player," said Noah, who made known his dislike for anything Cleveland before the series. Like Jordan in his pre-championship days, the Bulls have morphed into guard Derrick Rose and his supporting cast already. Except that Rose doesn't have a Scottie Pippen to ride shotgun yet. The Cavaliers made an effort to funnel Rose to the outside. On the eve of the game, Brown informed guard Anthony Parker that Rose would be his primary assignment. At 6-foot-6, Parker presented more of a challenge for Rose at the perimeter. While Rose took his best shot -- he scored 21 points on 9 of 20 in the field -- he didn't get much help this time. Noah (21) and Luol Deng (16) were the only other Bulls players to score more than 11 points. Noah also had 20 rebounds to become the first player to record a 20-20 game in Bulls playoff history. "We got to win (Game 5)," Rose said. "We have to at least give a challenge. We have got to play with a lot of energy and play together and attack the whole game." Guard Kirk Hinrich was held to 10 points, 18 fewer than he had in the last previous game. He connected on only 3-of-13 field goal attempts.
"We weren't very tough mentally today," Noah said. "We played good basketball, then all of a sudden, we collapsed. We're a young team. We have got to learn from this. But when things don't go our way, we can't put our heads down." Meanwhile, James had plenty of accomplices, forward Antawn Jamison and guard Mo Williams in particular. In a departure from Game 3, in which Jamison didn't force the issue, he scored 24 points in the role of "the X factor," as James called him. The veteran forward was especially effective in the third quarter, when he scored a dozen points. Williams contributed 21 points. Then again, the way that James played on this day, all Brown had to do was pencil him in the line-up and stay out the way. Last week James promised that he would step up his game in the playoffs. Hey, 'Bron, how's it goin' so far? "You tell me," said James, a killer grin on his face.