NBA Playoffs: What Will Cavaliers Do in Game 1 to Stop Bulls?

By Josh Hill | May 4, 2015

The Cleveland Cavaliers are trying to end the sadness in north Ohio, and what they’ll do to stop the Chicago Bulls in Game 1 is a complete and utter mystery.

Never doubt David Blatt’s mysterious ways, as he has both happened into and created situations where his mystic is lost on all of us. At times, he seems like he doesn’t really know what he’s doing while at other times he has been winning in ways we never expected based on schemes and plans that he threw into place that worked.

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LeBron James gets a lot of the credit for the success of the Cavaliers, but there needs to be acknowledgement of the way Blatt has coached up this team, and the way he’s adapted to changes.

When the Cavaliers acquired Timofey Mozgov, it took more than just putting him on the floor to make the Cavaliers the contenders that they are. The same goes with the way that J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert were used after they were acquired, and ditto for the departed Dion Waiters.

Blatt has been able to find out what works and what doesn’t in terms of rotations and schemes and that is going to be put to the test in Game 1. But the anticipation for Game 1 and they mystery surrounding what the Cavaliers will do is a testament to the team that Blatt has put together.

There is a massive element of the unknown entering Game 1 of this series and that has everything to do with how Blatt has mixed things up and approached situations with his rotations. No one knows if LeBron James is going to play the four, or guard Derrick Rose. Will Kyrie Irving defending the point allow LeBron to go off and stop outside shots from Nikola Mitotic?

What about the absence of J.R. Smith? Does that mean more Mike Miller on the floor or perhaps a heavy does of James Jones? Let’s not forget about the absence of Kevin Love and how Blatt will approach that with guys like Jones, Tristan Thompson and others on the bench.

Beyond all of that, we have Kendrick Perkins to consider as well, with his playoff experience and defensive skills something that the Cavaliers can throw in to offset losses all series long.

This is going to be a fun series, and not because it’s the Cavaliers and the Bulls. It’s because no one knows what is going to happen and how things will go down. There’s so much mystery about this series, and we won’t truly start figuring things out until Game 3 at the very earliest.

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