IST: 2nd Round - (3) Chicago Bulls vs (2) Cleveland Cavs (Cavs lead 3-2)

[Axl Rose]

lol good luck having Noah and Niko guarding LBJ

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Mirotic guarding Lebron?????

:andruw:

 

[Diddy1122]

so thibs should be fired if he loses this one right?

Anything can happen. We have the best chance, but unfortunately our lineup is glass so there's really no telling if good fortune continues. If the team stays healthy, we should win, with a legit chance to win it all.

If we lose this series, no, Thibs shouldn't be fired. If we'd lost to the Bucks, I might have thought a bit differently. However, I still felt the struggles in that series were self inflicted by the players (lazy passes, lack of focus on transition D, poor position on defensive rebounds) as opposed to any coaching issues. It looks as if the players corrected those mistakes. All we can hope is that the effort and focus stay consistent against the Cavs now.

 

[clonetrooper264]

The Cavs are not a good defensive team. We just faced the best defensive team in the East in the playoffs, the Bucks, and shot 40% from 3 against them. I don't think it's a leap of faith to think that open shots will continue against a weaker defense that just lost two key players.

This series completely shifted when Love went down. The suspension of Smith helps but losing Love is a huge blow to the Cavs chances. Before I would have called it a pretty even matchup. Now, the scales are completely tipped in the Bulls favor. Without Love and Smith to pull the defense out, the lanes are going to closed for Lebron and Kyrie's drives. Lebron is going to have to have a monstrous series imho for the Cavs to come out on top in this one.

I think the team can shoot well from 3. Indeed, I think they probably will. I'm just saying I don't expect 40% shooting from Butler and Rose on 3pt shots. They're not that good as shooters. I'd be happy with 35% from both.

The odds definitely shifted in the Bulls' favor with the Love injury. This is probably the best chance we'll get at beating Lebron in the next couple years. The time is now.

 

[Jerry Cortez211]

If the Bulls do beat the cavs I don't want them to get complacent...I know this is the series that they've wanted, but personally I'd be more excited if they get revenge on the Wizards (which could possibly retire Paul Pierce) or knock off that corny team from atlanta and their corny ass fanbase and then win #7

 

[Xplosive]

I had to go Bulls in 6. They should really be able to sweep but they are such an inconsistant team. I hope Thibs learned from the 1st round and keeps with the quicker rotations so players are fresher and this series is ours.

 

[Johnnyt237]

Ican't believe you guys are saying you don't want our best and most dynamic defender Jimmy G Buckets gaurding LeBron. Jimmy is going to go at em. For the Bulls to win Jimmy has to got for the throat. We need him to rise up to the challenge. Not shrink away so he score.

 

[The Hawk]

lol good luck having Noah and Niko guarding LBJ

Actually there were times in the last couple of games with the Cavs that Niko did a nice job of guarding Lebron and Noah loves it when he matches up with him. Smaller guys just bounce off of Lebron. Noah, Gibson, Mirotic, and Snell need to take turns wearing him out.

 

[The Hawk]

Ican't believe you guys are saying you don't want our best and most dynamic defender Jimmy G Buckets gaurding LeBron. Jimmy is going to go at em. For the Bulls to win Jimmy has to got for the throat. We need him to rise up to the challenge. Not shrink away so he score.

I want to win the game and Butler has become the Bulls best scorer. They need him to score. Its not like the Cavs don't have other players than Lebron. Let Butler guard and shut down one of them while the other guys pound Lebron. THe Bulls have great depth finally going into this series. Use that depth to wear Lebron into the ground.

 

[Axl Rose]

Noah couldn't guard Jared Dudley

 

[clonetrooper264]

No one besides Jimmy Butler or Tony Snell will be guarding Lebron unless there's some weird transition mismatch.

 

[The Hawk]

No one besides Jimmy Butler or Tony Snell will be guarding Lebron unless there's some weird transition mismatch.

We will see. I'm just saying that I don't want Butler worn down trying to guard that beast. He actually gets manhandled by Lebron a lot. I say switch off guarding Lebron and don't wear out Butler who has become their most dependable scorer. Beat him up! I don't think the other Cavs can win their one on one match-ups against our other guys but Lebron will win a one on one match-up going against jimmy and Snell. I would like to see the guy collapse on the court from fatigue is all

 

[Raskolnikov]

I think Gibson, Snell, Dunleavy, Mitotic, and Butler will all see some time on Lebron to spread the fouls and depending on if Cavs go 4 guards and Mozgov much.

Smith-Irving-Shumpert-James-Mozgov is a potential lineup, and in that you sometimes may want Gibson on Lebron. Mitotic cannot guard him but he can use length to force him to drive, or he can guard him in the post.

 

[2323]

Mirotic guarding Lebron?????

:andruw:

It's not a good point. Teams, not individuals, guard players like LeBron. Especially when he's forcing the action.

 

[Bear06]

No surprise that most of the NBA experts at ESPN are still picking the Cavaliers. It is crucial that the Bulls win one of the first two games in Cleveland, at first I was thinking two but one is still good.

http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2015/story/_/id/12802517/experts-predictions-round-2

I'm picking the Bulls in 6 and believe they can beat anybody if they are healthy and playing to their potential, but we'll see if they can do that because they have been so inconsistent (Mainly against weaker teams). If the Bulls can't take advantage of no Love and no JR Smith (First 2 games) then it's obvious that they don't deserve to advance. This is the Bulls' best chance of beating LeBron's team though so hopefully they can pull it off. Go Bulls!

 

[Scoot26]

No surprise that most of the NBA experts at ESPN are still picking the Cavaliers. It is crucial that the Bulls win one of the first two games in Cleveland, at first I was thinking two but one is still good.

http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2015/story/_/id/12802517/experts-predictions-round-2

I'm picking the Bulls in 6 and believe they can beat anybody if they are healthy and playing to their potential, but we'll see if they can do that because they have been so inconsistent (Mainly against weaker teams). If the Bulls can't take advantage of no Love and no JR Smith (First 2 games) then it's obvious that they don't deserve to advance. This is the Bulls' best chance of beating LeBron's team though so hopefully they can pull it off. Go Bulls!

Wait wait wait wait.. Nick Friedell actually picked the Bulls? He usually does nothing but hate on them.

 

[Scoot26]

What the hell is this shit?

https://twitter.com/uninterrupted/status/595000001836683264

 

[The Hawk]

I think Gibson, Snell, Dunleavy, Mitotic, and Butler will all see some time on Lebron to spread the fouls and depending on if Cavs go 4 guards and Mozgov much.

Smith-Irving-Shumpert-James-Mozgov is a potential lineup, and in that you sometimes may want Gibson on Lebron. Mitotic cannot guard him but he can use length to force him to drive, or he can guard him in the post.

Thats how I see it. We'll see how it works out.

 

[clonetrooper264]

What the hell is this shit?

https://twitter.com/uninterrupted/status/595000001836683264

It's his secret weapon to beating us in 5 games every year, duh

 

[Scoot26]

It's his secret weapon to beating us in 5 games every year, duh

That must be it!