Cleveland @ Atlanta tonight

Playoff preview. Atlanta leads the season series 2 to 1.

Atlanta is a very good team. The Bulls have had difficulty with spacing on defense. Their shooters are very good, and their defense is better. I think we are seeing four and maybe five legitimate teams that can play with the Western Division teams. The Bulls will play the Pacers and both Cleveland and the Bulls have to be very careful of the Pacers team as the playoffs approach because they could be the 7th or 8th seed and quite capable with their defense catching a better team looking beyond.

The Bulls missing three of their six best players beat OK last night and were 16 down in the third quarter. Niko is playing like Wiggins may have a challenger for rookie of the year, and Thibs philosophy of "next one up" has kept this team cohesive and proud. Last night their 11th player off the bench won the game with a three. Every component of this TEAM is necessary and capable. If Butler, Rose, and Taj come back at 90%........they still will have a difficult time with a very good Atlanta team, and they match up better with Cleveland.

The Bulls lost to a very good Pacer team tonight. George will be back next week, and this team plays defense and has one of the leagues deepest benches. I think the Pacers at playoff time are going to surprise some people. The Bulls upside is there Rookie Doug Mcbuckets got some minutes and scored a career high 16 points. Snell, Niko, and Doug are getting play time and these first or second year players will be the core of this team in the future and Thibs is just doing an excellent job coaching. They play the Spurs Sunday still short handed, but this is really turning out to be huge getting playing time for some great young players.

The Cavs simply cannot play defense. They cannot rebound or block shots. Atlanta is clearly the class team of the East and if the Cavs or the Bulls want to beat them, first they are going to have to get by the Pacers, and second they are going to have to play better defense. The Bulls as a team are improving. The Cavs have NO solution to defense and rebounding. None. Atlanta owned the Cavs all game.

Atlanta will be the team to beat. James had too many turnovers. Once again, basketball is a team sport.

Cleveland is in the top ten teams of the NBA. They are not in the top five. Do the Bulls and Cleveland have a chance. Yes. I just think Atlanta is better than both of them now. They play great team ball. They have great spacing on offense with their three point shooting......very good team defense, and they continue to improve.

The bulls simply lack healthy players and there is no guarantee they will be healthy in the playoffs. The Cavs lack defense, rebounding, and blocking of shots which means that teams can dominate inside and in the paint, and they have nothing to stop them. Cleveland will not match up well with the Bulls, Atlanta, and the Pacers in the East, and most of the eight Western playoff slots can easily beat Cleveland in 7 in the playoffs. Atlanta is the favorite, and I have not even mentioned a good Toronto team who could surprise everyone with their guard play.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/lebron-james-after-nine-turnovers-in-loss-i-suck/ar-AA9v3T9

The trip down is never as much fun as the trip up.

2seaoat wrote:http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/lebron-james-after-nine-turnovers-in-loss-i-suck/ar-AA9v3T9

The trip down is never as much fun as the trip up.

Michael Jordan had a career turnover rate of less than 3.