Tonight is Game 2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers versus the Chicago Bulls second round matchup at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland at 7:00 PM ET.
Chicago Bulls took Game 1 in Cleveland with a 99-92 win. That was a big win for the Bulls to give them a 1-0 lead in the playoff series and steal home court advantage. Cleveland Cavaliers, of course, will not have Kevin Love in the lineup as he is out for the rest of the playoffs with a dislocated shoulder and just recently had surgery.
J.R. Smith will miss his second straight game of the series as he was served with a two-game suspension for the first two games of this playoff series after he hit Jae Crowded in the face in Game 4 during the first round of the playoffs versus the Boston Celtics.
This is a must-win game for the Cavs or else they will be down 2-0 in the series and then they will have to play on the road in Chicago for the next two games in the series. The Cavaliers are inserting Tristan Thompson in the starting lineup in this game for Mike Miller, who started in Game 1 in place of Thompson.
The Cavs let the Bulls shoot very well from the field in Game 1, and they are going to have to play better defense by contesting shots if they want to grab a win. They are especially going to have to force Pau Gasol to miss jump shots, as he got plenty of good, open looks from mid-range and made the most of it.
Gasol scored 21 points on 10 of 16 from the field to go along with 10 rebounds in Game 1. Derrick Rose put in 25 points and dished out five assists as the Bulls look for Rose to keep it up this playoff series.
LeBron James will need to play a much better game tonight than he did on Monday. In Game 1, James had just 19 points on 9 of 22 from the field, including six turnovers.
"We all have to be better. I have to be better. I wasn't that good," James said. Other than the Cavs top three scorers (Kyrie Irving 30, Iman Shumpert 22, and James 19) in Game 1, no player scored in double figures. In fact, aside from the three aforementioned players, the rest of the team combined to score just 21 points. The Cavaliers will surely need their redemption tonight with a win.