With the loss of Kevin Love in the series finale against the Celtics, the Cavaliers and Bulls enter their East semifinals showdown more even than anticipated. While the Hawks unexpectedly emerged to win the conference this year, Chicago and Cleveland were the two teams widely proclaimed to be the favorites. Now, a seven-game series will decide which club advances.
Chicago Bulls vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA Playoffs 2015: Series preview, schedule and prediction
Two preseason favorites to win the East square off in the semifinals, but the Cavaliers will be without Kevin Love.
Even though he doesn't close every game, there's no doubt that Love is a huge loss. Without his perimeter shooting and consistent scoring around the basket, the Cavaliers' offensive ceiling falls significantly. With LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, Cleveland can obviously still score points in a hurry, but their overall efficiency will fall without Love's floor spacing.
Much of Chicago’s success hinges around Derrick Rose. He was fantastic in the Bulls’ four wins against the Bucks, but struggled in Games 4 and 5, committing 14 turnovers and shooting 30 percent in those two games. Still, the explosive drives to the basket and daring passes that somehow find their way through a defense are back. Whenever he can get enough rest between games, he’s fantastic.
Jimmy Butler continues to lead the way for the Bulls, averaging 25 points in the first round series. He'll likely be assigned the monumental task of slowing down James, who tallied a line of 27 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in the four-game sweep of Boston.
As division rivals with history, these two teams should provide a thrilling back and forth. Chicago looks as good as they have all season, while the Cavaliers demonstrably improved in the season’s second half. Given the Hawks’ struggles, both sides know that the winner of the series could very likely be Finals bound.
The Matchup
- Cavaliers (53-29, expected: 55-27) vs. Bulls (50-32, expected: 51-31)
- Offensive efficiency: Cavaliers 107.7 (4th) | Bulls 104.7 (10th)
- Defensive efficiency: Cavaliers 104.4 (20th) | Bulls 101.5 (11th)
- Season series: Cavaliers 3-1. Chicago beat Cleveland 113-98 on Feb. 13, but the Cavaliers bested them in the other three meetings.
4 questions that will decide the series
We asked our Cavaliers site Fear the Sword and our Bulls site Blog a Bull to give us the lowdown on these two teams.
1. What do you think is your team’s biggest advantage in this series?
Fear the Sword: The easiest answer is still LeBron James. Jimmy Butler has had trouble guarding James in the post in the few times we’ve seen it happen, and it might be a fixture in this series. It seems like most people believe that James is best at the power forward position, and if there was ever a time for him to log a lot of minutes there, it would be now. If he can impose his will on the series, it’ll cover up some of the Cavaliers’ weaknesses.
Blog a Bull: Health. The Bulls are closer to full strength, despite Joakim Noah and Nikola Mirotic seemingly not at 100 percent. No Kevin Love gives the Bulls an overwhelming health advantage. Tryhardiness is a cute way to win regular season games against better teams. The Bulls clearly have a coaching advantage and more shooters to punish Cleveland attempting to collapse the paint, but if there is a fighting chance at knocking LeBron James out of the playoffs, it's the fact that he is lacking a weapon in Love to stretch the Bulls defense and ignite fast breaks with defensive rebounds.
2. What do you think is your team’s biggest disadvantage in this series?
FtS: Frontcourt depth. Timofey Mozgov, Tristan Thompson, the spotlight is on you now. The Bulls are known for their deep frontcourt, banged up as it may be. The Cavaliers come into the series with just two functional NBA big men. Can Pau Gasol exploit his size advantage on Thompson? Can Mozgov stay out of foul trouble? Who plays power forward when it isn’t LeBron? James Jones isn’t a good option, Shawn Marion has not played very much since January and Kendrick Perkins is a walking foul. If Thompson and Mozgov can hold their own, the Cavaliers can win.
BaB: Not having LeBron. He is the greatest player on the planet. He is enormous, quick, and intelligent. He can defend anyone, get so many open shots for his teammates and muscle through anyone on this Bulls squad. This man is the biggest deficit creator for every team in the league. When LeBron's team is outmatched by great coaching by Gregg Popovich, Rick Carlisle, Doc Rivers, or Stan Van Gundy in the last eight years, LeBron is deficit reducer. Even if the Bulls are deeper, can shoot better, rebound harder and move the ball well, LeBron will keep his team in reach. When LeBron is in reach, he can and will land his blows against a Bulls help defense which is really lacking.
3. Which player needs to step his game up most for your team to win?
FtS: Everyone will have to play at a high level, but Kyrie Irving has to win his matchup with Derrick Rose. Iman Shumpert will spend a lot of time on Jimmy Butler, so there won’t always be a place to hide Irving on defense. If Irving can outplay Rose, that takes pressure off LeBron and makes the Cavaliers that much better. If he doesn’t get taken advantage of by Rose, that portends very well for Cleveland.
BaB: Derrick Rose. The bad interior help is amplifying Aaron Brooks' inability to prevent point guards from getting wherever they want, and Kirk Hinrich is awful at everything. The Bulls' wings are still blocking passing lanes well and moving guys off of the three-point line for catch-and-shoots, but Rose is going to have to make Irving force bad shots. More importantly, he needs to penetrate. When he gets inside, the coin-flip finishes at the rim needs to move closer to automatic. When he sucks in the D, he needs to continue to recognize the passing lane to the open shooter. Most important, he needs to take care of the basketball.
With the way LeBron can control the pace of the game and manufacture points off turnovers, giving away possessions will kill the Bulls. No one has the ball more than Rose. If the Bulls exploit their fighting chance, it is Rose quarterbacking an offense to maximize the healthy weapons available to him.
4. What is your series prediction and why?
FtS: Cavaliers in seven. The Cavaliers don’t have a lot of depth, but they do have guys who are versatile and can do different things. They have to avoid foul trouble and they need LeBron and Kyrie to be extraordinary. I think that can happen four times in seven games.
BaB: Cavaliers in six. Noah isn't capable of 32 great minutes for four games and Taj Gibson's relief off the bench might not be enough. The interior help of the Bulls scares the hell out of me. If all else fails, LeBron won't beta-male enough to let this slide. He will exploit it enough.
Predictions
Ziller | Flannery | Prada | O'Donnell | Blog a Bull | Fear The Sword |
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Schedule (all times ET)
Game 1: Monday, May 4, Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio, 7 p.m. (TNT)
Game 2: Wednesday, May 6, Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio, 7 p.m. (TNT)
Game 3: Friday, May 8, United Center, Chicago, Illinois, TBD (EPSN)
Game 4: Sunday, May 10, United Center, Chicago, Illinois, 3:30 p.m. (ABC)
Game 5 (if necessary): Tuesday, May 12, Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio, TBD (TNT)
Game 6 (if necessary): Thursday, May 14, United Center, Chicago, Illinois, TBD (ESPN)
Game 7 (if necessary): Sunday, May 17, Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio, TBD (TNT)
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