Chicago Bulls vs Cleveland Cavaliers: Position-By-Position Preview For The Rest of the Series

Bench

May 4, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova (8) reacts after forcing a turnover by Chicago Bulls guard Aaron Brooks (0) in the fourth quarter in game one of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

The Cavs- without Kevin Love- lose an enormous amount of interior depth and shooting ability. They tried starting Mike Miller to maintain their ability to spread the floor but that didn’t work out at all in Game 1. Their two main big men now are Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson, both offensively challenged players.

With Kevin Love available, they still had the second worst bench in the first round of the playoffs and averaged 22 points per game. Now that Love is out, their bench gets shorter, and with J.R. Smith suspended for the first two games, Shumpert has to start and he was their highest scorer off the bench against the Celtics.

The Bulls bench is very deep but Thibodeau has significantly shortened the rotation. In Game 1, he only used Taj Gibson, Kirk Hinrich, Aaron Brooks for nine minutes, and Nikola Mirotic for two whole minutes. That depth the Bulls have needs to actually be used to have an impact. Guys like Tony Snell and Mirotic can contribute if given the opportunity.

Gibson on his own still scored only one less point than the Cavs’ entire bench (eight for Gibson, nine for Cavs bench) and Hinrich & Brooks added 11 more. Taj alone will probably have a more useful impact than the Cavs’ entire bench in Game 2, but when Shumpert returns to his bench role with Smith back for Game 3, the Bulls will need much more from Brooks, Hinrich, Mirotic, and Snell.

It’s all up to Thibodeau.

Advantage: Bulls Bench

Next: Tom Thibodeau vs David Blatt