The Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls are playing live on the ESPN NBA schedule on Friday night and the game is on at 8 pm ET as LeBron James and Derrick Rose face off and it is live on WatchESPN online and on TV as the United Center hosts the east favorites and the Cavs will be looking for their first win of the season after losing to the Knicks.
James and company come into the game after a loss to the Knicks at home and while that spoiled the homecoming for LeBron James, he is happy to be moving on and just playing ball. Rose and the Bulls were impressive against the Knicks and that matchup saw Taj Gibson lead the way with 22 points and 11 rebounds. The team has added Pau Gasol and Doug McDermott and they feel they have a real chance to be a contender.
The Bulls are 1-0 on the season and that game was at MSG and now the team heads home for their opener at the United Center and this is big for Rose, as it's his first home game in quite some time after being injured. Rose has the chance to ease back into the rotation, as the Bulls have a deep roster and they should be able to limit his minutes as he build back strength. Adding Gasol and McDermott will be huge, as the offense was the main area where the Bulls needed to improve from last season. The team was ranked first in the NBA in defensive scoring, but last in offensive scoring per game and now they have the chance to rectify that.
Adding Gasol to a front court that already had Joakim Noah is an embarrassment of riches and now the team should be able to challenge the Cavaliers for the top spot in the east. The Cavs looked solid in their first game, but they will obviously need more time to get used to each other. The trio of Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving and James is as good as any three in the league and they should have a nice battle this season in the central with the Bulls.
The Cavaliers come in after the loss to the Knicks and they saw James struggle a bit, scoring less than 20 points and having only four in the first half and also with eight turnovers. Irving had 22 points, Love had 14 rebounds and Irving added seven assists and once LeBron gets into his groove, the Cavs should be fine. The Cavs and Bulls played in the preseason and that saw Cleveland win and now the real games are here and this is the first one for the two teams against each other with James back in Cleveland.
After playing against the Bulls the Cavs will continue on the road out west and they have games against Portland, Utah and Denver before coming back and playing the Pelicans. After that the team has the Boston Celtics on the road and then the Hawks, Nuggets and Spurs at home and that game will be on ESPN. The Bulls have a tough start with the Knicks and Cavaliers and after this they play three of four on the road, with the Timberwolves, Magic, Bucks and Sixers for an easy stretch.
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