Second round playoff predictions

Do the Cavs need Love or not? If not they should have kept Wiggins.

If the Bulls don't win this one they never will.

Cavs v Warriors in the Finals. No one else matters
 
Love helps the Cavs stretch the court ... much like Bosh did. It's not even about how much production Love/Bosh have playing with LBJ, it's the threat of what they can do that pulls guys just an extra step away from the lane to open up the driving lanes to the basket.

The only way that the Cavs can get the spacing against the Bulls would be to play LBJ exclusively at the 4 and surround him with 3 shooters. The problem is that the remaining bigs for the Cavs (particularly Thompson) are more or less non-factors when it comes to being able to hit mid-range shots so it turns into what LBJ had with the Heat with Birdman and guys like Joel Anthony allowing bigs to help clog up the lane. If you recall when he was with Miami, when guys like Birdman were on the floor, if he wasn't getting offensive boards or easy baskets off of dives, the offense tended to clog up.

I also would expect that the Cavs will really struggle with guarding the bigs of Chicago in this series, particularly if they go small. If they stay big to matchup, then that will force LBJ into being much more of a jump shooter in this series. Best chance that Cleveland has IMO is to go small and cause more problems for Chicago (notably strong shooting from 3) than Chicago is able to cause from Cleveland.
 
Love helps the Cavs stretch the court ... much like Bosh did. It's not even about how much production Love/Bosh have playing with LBJ, it's the threat of what they can do that pulls guys just an extra step away from the lane to open up the driving lanes to the basket.

The only way that the Cavs can get the spacing against the Bulls would be to play LBJ exclusively at the 4 and surround him with 3 shooters. The problem is that the remaining bigs for the Cavs (particularly Thompson) are more or less non-factors when it comes to being able to hit mid-range shots so it turns into what LBJ had with the Heat with Birdman and guys like Joel Anthony allowing bigs to help clog up the lane. If you recall when he was with Miami, when guys like Birdman were on the floor, if he wasn't getting offensive boards or easy baskets off of dives, the offense tended to clog up.

I also would expect that the Cavs will really struggle with guarding the bigs of Chicago in this series, particularly if they go small. If they stay big to matchup, then that will force LBJ into being much more of a jump shooter in this series. Best chance that Cleveland has IMO is to go small and cause more problems for Chicago (notably strong shooting from 3) than Chicago is able to cause from Cleveland.
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The only big that Chicago has offensively is Gasol. And the Cavs have Mosgov and Thompson to guard him. The rest can be guarded by LeBron or whoever else is playing the 4. I'm sure Shawn Marion will get more playing time this series. Noah is mainly a passer/screener. Gibson shoots mid range jumpers and Mirotic is a stretch 4 that can be guarded by smaller guys.
 
It's not what the Chicago bigs can do per se by their ability to shoot the ball or score in the low post as much as what they will be able to do on the glass. Both Noah and Gibson are very strong rebounders.

Take your prediction that a smaller guy can guard Noah (let's say either LBJ or Marion). You are absolutely right that Noah is a terrific screener. Put LBJ in a position to guard him. Noah will go out and put a solid screen on which usually results in a strong hedge from a big to allow the guard to get back in position. LBJ on the other hand is far more likely to direct switch in such a situation due to his skill set and an unfamiliarity with a strong hedge and then switching back onto his man. The end result here will be Noah then being guarded by a guard and whether the ball goes to him directly or the resulting rotation will end up with him being in tremendous rebounding position against someone that is probably 6-10 inches shorter than him.

It's not going to be the direct scoring but instead the rebounding and ability to control the paint on both ends of the court that are going to be a tremendous advantage for Chicago in this series.
 
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