No Love at all for Cavs... and no JR Smith for 2 games. Its bascially all Kyrie and LeBron for Cavs on offense, and Thibs is a defensive master. Cavs are gonna have trouble scoring at times. Plus Thompson and Shumpert make the Cavs a better defensive team. I'm predicting neither team will hit 100 in the first two games at least.
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good strategy
I think Bulls +5 tonight is a good bet tooComment -
I agree for Game 1. And probably Game 2 unless the posted total is lower than tonight. Then need to re-evaluate once Smith comes back for Game 3.Comment -
why has this line gone slightly up since the opener?? love and smith are both key components to cleveland on the drive n dish 3 point shooting. something smells fishy here or two starters out which will compromise the defensive continuity. public generally will go over, but tonight it makes no sense. i would thought the opposite.Comment -
agree glComment -
Most people only think when starters are out the team lacks offense, but sometimes it's the opposite. Most schlumps on the end of the bench can score, but I promise you their defense is horrific.Comment -
Not in this case. Both Shumpert and Thompson are better defensively than Love and Smith. Smith is a good defender, but that is what Shumpert is known for. Thompson is one of the leading O-rebounders in the NBA, so that might benefit Cav's offense, but my thinking is Thibs will really clamp down on Irving and force LeBron to beat them by himself. I think he puts Butler on LeBron and leaves it at that. They will concentrate on helpside defense once Irving and LeBron start driving. With both Love and JR out (and you mentioned this), both of Cavs guys who drain the 3 off of drive and kick are gone. Shumpert is a decent 3pt shooter but Thompson is a non-factor outside the paint. Itll be interesting to see how the Cavs adjust offensively... we may see a lot of Dellavedova, as he can do everything decent. He's not great or even good at any one thing, but he does everything decent and doesnt have many weaknesses. I prefer him playing than James Jones. Mozgov is gonna have to clog up the middle on both ends... hes gonna have to score and not turn it over, which is is pretty good at not doing. If Mozgov gets in foul trouble, Cavs are toast... because with Love out, Cavs dont have the luxury of playing Thompson at both the 4 and 5. Thompson was the guy who gave Love and Mozgov breaks. Now Thompson has to play a ton of minutes and when Mozgov is out, Perkins HAS to play. Cavs cant afford to go small with the bigs of Chicago (Gasol, Noah, Gibson, Miritic)... Thompson and Mozgov have to be on the floor together for 35 minutes minimum.Comment -
cannot disagree, but here is how i see it. cleveland, the home team, and will want to dictate tempo vs the bulls. the only way they win is an fast paced game. free pick over the total. lol, no bet for me but my gut tells me this because i have been doing this for 25 years. good luck on your plays.Comment -
I think game 1 is going to go over, personally. Last 5 games between the Cavs-Bulls: Totals of 193, 211, 202, 222(overtime, 98-98 at the end of reg), and 205
The Cavs are just not a good defensive team. Shump has helped a bit, but he still takes a whole lot of risks defensively, and that can be exploitedComment -
I think this might be worthy of chasing throughout the series but tonight has the makings for going over imoComment
