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[Second Round Matchup Thread] Cleveland vs. ???

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Douglar

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A lot of question marks after today's game. The only thing that's certain is that the Cavs have made it to the second round. Let's discuss second round stuff here.

 
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A lot of question marks after today's game. The only thing that's certain is that the Cavs have made it to the second round. Let's discuss second round stuff here.

That tweet official?

Good news for me if true.
 
Spotting up Love around a Kyrie/LeBron pick-and-roll was the best action we ran last time we played the Bulls, down the stretch they had no answer for LeBron with a head of steam slicing down the lane.

I don't think that works as well if TT/Moz are the bigs, I'm really hoping we go take a page out of Miami's book and play supersmall lineups with LeBron at the 4 as our primary group. James Jones cannot see minutes against the Bulls, if we're going to play a floor spacer with no defensive presence I'd rather dust Miller off and hope he can knock down some shots. Jones has no shot hanging down low and battling for boards against Chicago's frontcourt.
 
Shutting down or limiting 1 of Butler/Rose is the key... We still have the components to do that...

Still believe there's a strong chance we can handle Chicago...

Mirotic is the one that scares me a bit...
 
LeBron on Noah, Gibson or Gasol would be tough. I just think Tristan and Mozgov are going to have to play longer minutes.
 
I have never rooted for a team not my own more than I will tomorrow night with the Bucks. I know how unlikely it is but a win tomorrow for them would be tremendously huge for our franchise.
I'm out of town this weekend, so I really need the Bucks to win this game.

Go Bucks!
 
I'm out of town this weekend, so I really need the Bucks to win this game.

Go Bucks!

It's not just you. I have to go to freaking Wheeling WV for a wedding saturday - the last couple days folks have been saying game 1 would be Sunday so I thought I was in the clear.. but now people are saying Saturday if the Bulls close out tomorrow so ya.. it screws the Cavs regarding Love a bit more and both of us this weekend.

So yes.. I am rooting for a small miracle tomorrow and the Bucks winning this game. For multiple reasons.
 
I'll give you guys as optimistic a view of this series as I can and I'll stick with Windy's report of minimum of 2 weeks missed for Love.

LeBron faced this EXACT same situation in the conference semis against Indiana in 2011-2012. Bosh went down with a groin strain in the 2nd quarter of Game 1 and missed the rest of that series as well as half of the Boston series before coming off the bench in games 5, 6 and 7. Bosh was the lynchpin of that Miami defense and their only hope of producing points outside of a VERY gimpy and inconsistent Wade and LeBron of course.

LeBron in that conference semis, with Joel fucking Anthony playing center against Roy Hibbert, and having to switch off guarding David West with Shane Battier, averaged 30, 11, 6 and 2.7 steals per game on 50% shooting. Down 2-1, he had a game of 40-18-9. That LeBron completely focused on working in the post. I think this LeBron will focus on the same thing. Not sure how Chicago will elect to play him in the post, but he knows against that team that driving all game is not an option.

Kyrie is going to have to grow up QUICKLY in this series. Mozzy has to stay out of foul trouble. TT has to dominate on the offensive glass, and Shumpert has to play amazing defense. Simple as that.

As for defensive matchups, LeBron will have to guard Butler and Shumpert will have to take Rose. Kyrie will probably be cross-matched against Dunleavy/Snell. At the start of games LeBron will probably conserve some energy and guard Dunleavy. The weaker of the two forwards defensively will guard Noah, who is 0 threat in the post. Mozzy will strictly guard Gasol, which despite Mozzy's troubling post defense, has actually been a good matchup for him.

This is the series where you have to rely on the vets to get the job done. If they don't, the Cavs won't win the series. This will go 6 games, possibly 7. LeBron has the reputation now as the best player in the world because he now can be counted on in these moments. You guys wanted 2012 LeBron? You just may see him in this series.
 
Tristan has a chance to significantly increase his payday in this series. Here's hoping he comes up huge.
 
Tristan has a chance to significantly increase his payday in this series. Here's hoping he comes up huge.

Tristan is getting paid max regardless. He's already earned his money. Winning or losing a series won't fall solely on him.
 
I might be crazy, I say shut Dunleavy and Gasol down and you have a great chance of beating Chicago.

Rose/Butler/Niko aren't going to win you a game alone.

Between Tristan and Mozgov, Noah can be neutralized in this series. The guy I worry about the most is Taj Gibson.

If Gibson and Dunleavy are burying jumpers, I don't like our chances. I know that sounds crazy, but I have seen the Cavaliers handle Chicago, up until they start burying easy jumpers.

They're going to muck the game up and hope that one of those little runs they go on (if it times up right) can accelerate them past us.

I'll live with Rose getting 30, if you can eliminate one of Gibson/Dunleavy or Mirotic, I struggle to see the rest of the Bulls being able to pull through.

They'll always be hanging in there with us, we just can't let those other guys get the whole team off on some momentum swinging jump shots.
 

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