By Nick Friedell
DEERFIELD, Ill. -- The Chicago Bulls are scheduled to play the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night, but if you listened closely to their comments after Wednesday's practice you would have thought they were preparing for the first five-on-one game in the history of basketball.
LeBron James has that kind of effect on people.
The Cavs' star was at the forefront of everyone's mind on Wednesday afternoon at the Berto Center and Bulls head coach Vinny Del Negro spent a considerable amount of time fielding questions about the reigning MVP. After a while, he wasn't sure what else to say so he finally invoked an image that all Bulls fans could relate with.
"The people in Chicago know," Del Negro said. "You guys had a guy here that was pretty good for a long time that wore 23. You know how that is. You can have all the great defenses you want, but some guys just can make plays over the top of you whether you bring one, two, three guys. We're just really going to have to get into him, make it as hard as possible. Just be effective in the areas we need to."
But, as Del Negro pointed out, if James continues to play like he did on Monday night there isn't much else the Bulls can do to stop him. There isn't anything any team in the league can do when he gets that hot.
"He's difficult just because of his size," Del Negro said. "He can see over the top of the defense. If you come on the double, which we did, weakside guys shoot the three well. They were 10-for-20 from three. You have to pick your spots. When you come with the double they spread you out ... you just have to be very efficient with your rotations. Try to make him take contested jump shots, try to limit their paint scores and second chance points. Their record is what their record is because they have depth. Obviously, when the game's close you go to your star player."
Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich didn't guard James much on Monday night, but when he did the matchup certainly left an impression.
"He's one of the fastest guys in the league," Hinrich said. "He's 275, 280. It's an unbelievable matchup. Especially when he gets in the open court. If you get in front of him, you foul him, he's probably going to [get] an and 1. It's a cover like no other in the league for sure."
What else can the Bulls do to, at the very least, get in his way? How can they make sure that he doesn't go off for 40 points again and 15 in the fourth quarter once again?
"We have to pick our spots and make it difficult for him to score," Del Negro said. "Keep him off the free throw line, keep him out of the open court without turning the ball over and it really comes down to we have to be a little bit more efficient offensively, in terms of making difficult shots and knocking some things down to put a little bit more pressure on them to keep them out of their transition."
But even then, Hinrich knows that it may not matter.
"The goal is to make him take tough jump shots," he said. "He did that and he made them in Game 2. [Our gameplan] doesn't really change. We just hope that he misses some more."
That's it?
"I don't know if you can guard him much better than we did," he continued. "Fading away, taking challenged jump shots. That's what you have to live with."
That sounds a lot like what people used to say about the Bulls guard who made No. 23 so famous to begin with.
Couple notes on LeBron, people were talking about his weight in another thread. Hinrich thinks he is 280 lol.
