The Cleveland Cavaliers didn't get off the start they wanted to this season, losing 95-90 to the New York Knicks. LeBron & Co. now have a quick turnaround to face the Bulls, who beat the Knicks 104-80 on Wednesday.
Tonight's game will be first matchup between these two sides, and many believe they'll be meeting each other in the Eastern Conference Finals. Who will grab the upper hand in this budding rivalry?
Projected Starting Lineups
Cleveland Cavaliers (0-1)
G Kyrie Irving - 22.0 ppg, 7.0 apg, 5.0 rpg
G Dion Waiters - 10.0 ppg, 2.0 apg
F LeBron James - 17.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 4.0 apg
F Kevin Love - 19.0 ppg, 14.0 rpg
C Anderson Varejao - 10.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg
Chicago Bulls (1-0)
G Derrick Rose - 13.0 ppg, 5.0 apg
G Kirk Heinrich - 12.0 ppg, 1.0 spg
F Mike Dunleavy – 0.0 ppg, 4.0 apg
F Pau Gasol - 21.0 ppg, 11.0 rpg
C Joakim Noah - 3.0 ppg, 3.0 bpg
What to watch for:
Who will take over for the Cavs?
Cleveland has the potential to be one of the best offenses in NBA history, but there were obvious growing pains last night. They often overpassed and played sloppy basketball, turning the ball over 19 times (LeBron James had eight by himself).
Someone is going to have to take over at some point for the Cavs because they're too talented to go through two straight games playing that bad on the offensive side of the ball. Look for LeBron to be a lot more decisive than he was against New York, and everything else should fall into place after that.
Can Derrick Rose carry Chicago's offense?
The Chicago Bulls don't have a lot of legitimate offensive weapons on their roster, and they're [probably] going to have score a lot of points to keep up with the Cavs. Pau Gasol had a great game against the Knicks, but that had more to do with New York's lackluster defense in that game than anything Gasol was doing.
That means the Bulls are going to have to rely on Derrick Rose to shake off the rust and play like he did during his 2011 MVP season. Rose looks like the player he was before missing almost all of the last two seasons due to knee injuries, and he can expose Cleveland's weak perimeter defense.
Prediction: Cavs win 96-92
The Bulls looked like the better team in their first game of the season, but the Cavs have more overall talent and will put a little extra effort into this game to avoid starting the year 0-2. I think they'll figure some of their offensive problems out - even against Chicago's fantastic defense - and the Bulls just won't be able to score enough points to keep up.
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