Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
Conclusion
To recap all of these match-ups, here is what Chicago will need to do in order to beat Cleveland:
- Jimmy Butler will need to continue shrinking the gap between himself and LeBron James.
- Derrick Rose will need to stay healthy.
- Nikola Mirotic will need to be better than Kevin Love.
- Pau Gasol will need to continue his scoring and tighten up his defense.
- Joakim Noah will need to return to his former self.
- Most importantly, Doug McDermott and Tony Snell will need to score close to 10 points per game.
- Mike Dunleavy doesn’t need to change a whole lot, but he will probably have to play a little less in order for Snell and McDermott to flourish.
- The hardest task will be for Taj Gibson to play through trade rumors and perhaps even less playing time.
It may sound like a lot, but the Bulls are more than capable of meeting these expectations and eliminating Cleveland from the playoffs for the first time since Michael Jordan was in town.
Next: Jimmy Butler's SI ranking shows that he's legit
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