Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET on TNT the Cleveland Cavaliers will tip off their second round series against the Chicago Bulls in a Game 1 that can be live streamed free by clicking this link. Cavaliers fans can listen to the radio broadcast on WTAM 1100, while Bulls fans may do likewise on ESPN 1000.
The Cavaliers will tip off Game 1 very short-handed; star offseason acquisition Kevin Love is done for the rest of the playoffs with an injured shoulder, and shooting guard J.R. Smith is out for the first two games following a suspension for elbowing Jae Crowder of the Celtics in the previous series.
With Love out for the remainder of the postseason, Smith takes on an even greater role for Cleveland, so his absence will hurt. Smith only scored 9.8 points per game in Round 1, and he was hitting a dreadful 26.7 percent of his 3-pointers, but the threat he posed forced defenses to stretch out. Without Love serving as a potent catch-and-shoot threat, Smith becomes Cleveland's third option; without him, the Bulls might be content to pack the paint and force LeBron James and Kyrie Irving to beat them from the outside.
If James was concerned about missing two key offensive cogs though, he certainly isn't letting it be known. "Nah, we're not vulnerable at all," James said. "It's just basketball. You go out and play, you try to win and give it your best shot."
For the Bulls, it will be important for Derrick Rose to play with more consistency than he did vs. the Milwaukee Bucks. After exploding for 34 points in Game 3, Rose failed to surpass 15 points in any of Chicago's next three contests.
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