Cleveland Cavaliers #2 (53-29)

The latest incarnation of the Cavaliers boasts the return of Ohio's prodigal son, Lebron James. After finding the reguar season easy going and meshing the talents of Lebron with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love and honing the offense to a razor's edge, the Cavaliers look to overcome adversity in what once was considered a formality before reaching the finals. Kevin Love has been lost for the season and sharpshooting guard JR Smith finds himself suspended for the first two games of this series.

Rookie coach David Blatt has faced the most intense of scrutiny after being gifted this roster and has come through with shining colors, his resolve will now be tested as he loses much of the spacing that allowed his offense to shine during the regular season, he can always look to the fact that these two are pretty good and capable of carrying games by themselves



Playoff trends: The Cavs lead the playoffs in percentage of shots from the 3pt line, in best 3pt defense. The Cavs have the lowest assist rate in the playoffs, at 48% which is down from 59% in the regular season. Lebron leads the playoffs in drives per game and isos.

VS

Chicago Bulls #3 (50-32)

Chicago's own prodigal son, Derrick Rose, has returned to playoff basketball after that ill fated night against the Sixers. Derrick has only two cohorts left from the club that met Lebron in the Eastern Finals in 2011, Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah. The new faces he has to go to war with include Pau Gasol, the new All Star version of Jimmy Butler, and euroleague rookie sensation Nikola Mirotic. The bulls are still coached by taskmaster Tom Thibodeau, one of the few coaches who found a way to reign in Lebron before his current streak of finals appearances.

Derrick is only 11 games removed from returning from meniscus surgery, will Jimmy Butler find a way to continue his playoff emergence against the best player in the game? Will Derrick take or get his lunch money taken by Kyrie? How will David Blatt respond to the mismatches Tom Thibodeau will throw at him with his roster down 2 rotation players? These answers will come starting at 7Eastern/6Central tonight.

Playoff notes: Bulls are allowing 11.5 less points per 100 possessions in the playoffs, the best improvement of all playoff teams. They are holding opponents under 50% in the restricted area, also tops for playoff teams. They are turning the ball over on 17.5% of their possessions, tops in the playoffs. They are assisting on 71% of their baskets, tops in the playoffs.

This is the series that will determine who goes to the finals, don't let anyone else tell you differently. And if they do tell you, differently, tell them this

Nice post. In to see how Cavs cope without Love. Also interested to see what happens to Butler's offense when he guards LBJ.

Agreed, Cortez. Pretty lame that we don't get to see a real series between the two. Had hoped to see both at full strength.

Cleveland in 7.

Solid op indeed. Let us cavs. Should be a rather interesting series. I'm hoping to solidify my hard for Tristan Thompson this series. Really hope he shows up big

Jimmy butler should be fun to watch too. Pretty excited

Lebron will Lebron. My keys for the series are

1) Bulls interior D- Noah has been awful and Pau is a poor defender. The Cavs should PnR them to death with those two on the floor.

2) Rose v Kyrie- Rose has quietly crushed that matchup- will be interesting to see how having MOZ to protect the rim affects Rose.

3) Butler- Will they put him on LBJ? If they do how will that affect his offense? He's very clearly the Bulls best player and even if he's able to slow down LBJ slightly, Bullsfan should be worried as to how that will impact his offensive output, they're gonna need him to be huge this series.

Cavs in 5 probably

oh ya nice OP Troll

I always liked Leo. Idk why. Still, didn't see this totally non-trolly post coming. But, prepare to lose my man. Cavs in 5.

Nice OP

Cavs in 5 tho

I'll put up 150 to 100 that the series goes over 5.5 games if anyone really thinks "probably Cavs in 5"

stop trollstoying

Cavs in 5 and Cavs in 7 are tied for the most likely result last I saw. Of course, the next most likely outcomes involve Cavs/Bulls in 6 and Bulls in 7. This doesn't invalidate a choice of Cavs in 5.

I'll take Cavs in 5 and you can choose any other single result for even money. If you're just fishing for idiots that will never bite, then yeah, seriously stop Trollstoying.

bulls in 6

great OP

Cavs in 6

LOS BULLS in 7



ECF: BULLZ WIZ GONNA BE A GOOD ONE

If Perkins averages less than 6 mins a game Cavs in 5. If he gets 6-10 Cavs in 6, 10+ Cavs in 7.

Chicago might pull what Indiana did on NY a few years ago in their 2-3 matchup in the East semis, which was to play DWest on Shump to avoid going small whenever Melo played the 4. In this case, it would be the same thing except you'd throw Noah or Mirotic on Shump and just live with the results.

Cavs in 6 is my call... getting out of Cleveland at least 1-1 after these first two games without Smith is an absolute must for the Cavs.

Very nice OP Stoy.

Think it'll be much closer but imma go Cavs in 7.

Quick question for those of you who think it's morally acceptable to root for Lebron:

Do you ever struggle to find yourself some "me" time in between all the hours you spend murdering babies and denying the holocaust?

Thx for the op compliments, was planning on putting in way more gifs but that will resolve itself tonight.

I'm so excited!

Oh yea -- props on the OP. Good to see an actual OP instead of trolling from you, keep it up!

Bullies in 6.

Excellent point

:what: