Cavs: 'No excuses' after first on-court playoff adversity

CLEVELAND — The playoff adversity for the Cleveland Cavaliers struck when they lost Kevin Love to a season-ending injury and J.R. Smith for the first two games of the Eastern Conference because of a suspension.

They trailed the Chicago Bulls by 16 in the first half and 15 in the second half and lost to the Bulls 99-92 in their series opener on Monday, ceding home-court advantage in the process.

It's the first time Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson and Matthew Dellavedova — all playoff neophytes — have trailed in a series, and the first real taste of on-court playoff adversity has rolled into Cleveland in the name of grit and finesse, a combination Tom Thibodeau's Bulls have rarely possessed.

How will the Cavs answer?

LeBron James has been in this position before, and he walked into in the postgame news conference showing no sign of panic. Even had a smile. He's seen much worse, down 3-2 and needing a win to save the season.

"For one, we'll just focus on the next game," James said. "We'll focus on (Tuesday) first. We're going to watch the film and see ways we can get better — things that we've got to do to be better and try win that game, Game 2. That's our only concern. It's not worrying about seven games. If you worry about seven games, you might not even get there. You worry about Game 2 and be much better than we were tonight."

There's no such thing as a must-win in the second game of any series. But just 15 teams have come back from a 2-0 deficit, and the Cavs know now they need to win at least on game in Chicago to win this series.

Cleveland had built-in excuses after Game 1: No Love, no Smith, an eight-day layoff after eliminating the Boston Celtics in the first round, and Cavs coach David Blatt used a starting lineup with Mike Miller and Iman Shumpert in it that had not played one minute together as a five-man unit this season.

But the first words out of Blatt's mouth were: "No excuses."

"For us, not having our normal rotation and normal roster, we have to adjust to things and we have to try and be creative," Blatt said. "At the same time, everything that we're doing, we have to be that much better and that much more exact because our margin of error is going to be smaller.

"We have to be a little bit better at every point of the game and make adjustments that are necessary to gain just a little bit of ground. We're certainly not that far off. We've got to do a little better."

Blatt wasn't seeking moral victories, but after falling behind 16 in the second quarter, the Cavs tied the score at 55-55 in the third quarter. They fell behind 74-59 in the third quarter and pulled within two at 88-86 midway through the fourth quarter. But the Cavs never had the lead, could never score that one basket.

Cleveland's pick-and-roll defense on the Derrick Rose-Pau Gasol combo needs immediate attention. Gasol torched late-arriving defenders with his strong mid-range shot, Rose found holes in Cleveland's defense and made tough shots, and Jimmy Butler did his usual work offensively and defensively.

"Obviously, they were exploiting us with our coverage," James said, echoing what Blatt said about Cleveland's pick-and-roll defense. "We'll get better with it. We'll come in (Tuesday) and we'll watch film and we'll see ways we can take that away or make it a little more challenging."

Chicago's Big 3 almost all had at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists: Gasol had 21-10-4, Rose 25-5-5 and Butler 20-5-6.

James wasn't at his best, a fact he admitted immediately in his postgame news conference. He had 19 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists, but he shot just 9-for-22 from the field and miss his three three-point attempts.

"I wasn't that good tonight," James said. "I have to be much better."

When James looks at a boxscore after a game, his eyes dart to two places: team turnovers and his turnovers. He had six of Cleveland's nine turnovers.

"You guys know how I am about the turnovers," James said. "Three of them were not attack turnovers. I can be OK with the other three. But some of them were just jump in the air and try to find Ky. It's a rule. You don't jump and pass. That's something I can't do."

James and the Cavaliers were not efficient in the game's final four minutes, 30 seconds. James was 0-for-3 from the field, had two turnovers and didn't score in that stretch. Irving, who had a game-high 30 points, didn't score either in the game's final minutes, missing two three-pointers.

With Love out for the season and Smith not back until Game 3 in Chicago, James is right. He needs to play better.

This is where the Cavs trust that James guides the Cavs through difficult times with leadership and performance, and there are sure to be more difficult times than a 1-0 series deficit. James' teams have trailed Thibodeau's Bulls 1-0 in two previous series. In 2011 and 2013, James' Miami Heat won the next four games.

Playoff story lines change game to game, quarter to quarter, possession to possession. If the Cavaliers are going to change the narrative, James and Irving must pull the Cavs out of his shallow hole.

Follow Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt.

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