The Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls are playing Game 6 of the NBA playoffs eastern conference semifinals and the matchup comes from the United Center and starts at 8:00 PM and the game will be on ESPN and streaming on the WatchESPN website as LeBron James tries to close out the series against Derrick Rose and the Bulls.
James has played very well in this series and after winning Game 5 with a winning shot at the end, he now has the chance to close things out. The Bulls won the first game of the series and now they have the chance to try and stay alive for a Game 7, which would be on Sunday if necessary. The Cavaliers come in after winning two straight games and they took the last matchup at home and now have to try and win on the road.
Pau Gasol was out for the Bulls in Game 5 and now he is returning for Game 6 and he could be key for the team. The injuries have started to pile up on both sides, as Kevin Love is out for the playoffs, while Gasol, Kyrie Irving and James have all been banged up. Irving and James have been playing through injuries and they are trying to push the Cavs into the next round.
Gasol was out for part of the fourth game and he missed Game 5 with a hamstring issue and now he has the chance to come back. Gasol likely will not be at 100 percent for the game, but having him in the lineup changes things for the Bulls. Gasol needs to clean things up in the frontcourt for the Bulls, although Taj Gibson came in and played okay enough with him out, but he has to be better on Thursday.
James is averaging 25 points and seven assists this postseason and he has been as impressive as anyone in this postseason and he is the key for the Cavs. David Blatt almost blew the biggest game of the series on multiple occasions by trying to call a timeout when they didn't have any left and when he called the final play with James as the inbound passer. James said no to that and took the ball himself and it resulted in a winning shot for the Cavs.
Granted, James himself had a tough offensive foul call at the end of the game that allowed the Bulls to tie things up, but he fixed it with the shot. James comes in after scoring 38 points in the last matchup and he had 12 rebounds and six assists and even if the Bulls win Game 6, he should be ready to win game 7. The Cavs play great at home and James always seems to step up when he is needed the most.
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