Cleveland Cavaliers: Eastern Conference Finals Preview

Starters

JH:

The Cavs’ starting lineup is hobbled, but still fairly strong despite what it looks like on paper.

There’s LeBron James, a severely weakened Kyrie Irving, a sore Iman Shumpert, Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov.

The two Cavs bigs have been pivotal during their playoff run, giving Cleveland tons of second chance opportunities and slowing down the game to force a pace that works for them. Thompson especially has been key at snagging the ball out of the air, grabbing 3.9 offensive boards per game this postseason.

Mozgov too, has been huge. His rim protection has been just what the rest of the team needs on the inside. He’s fiery, active and tenacious. He’s never been this far in the playoffs and it shows.

This Cavs team wants it. Despite being so injured they look like they need canes and high-speed IVs that will follow them around the court, they’ve fought hard every single minute and earned their place.

No way the Cavs back down here.

Kyrie will be key to watch in this series, of course. LeBron will need to be THAT LeBron, and Shump needs to keep his strong shooting rolling; he’s been money from 16-plus feet, draining 66.7 percent of his attempts.

If Cleveland’s two starting bigs can at least exploit the smaller bigs of Atlanta, that’s a start. The back court will need to be very good, but if Mozzy and Thompson keep playing well, they’ll get more than one shot if they fail to perform any given night.

AM:

The Hawks have one of the most well-rounded benches in the league. How else can you explain the fact that as a collective they were named Player of the Month for January? From positions 1-5, from Games 1-7, they have all the talent and requisite tools to cause the Cavaliers problems.

Jeff Teague may not have had the best of Playoffs so far, but faced off with a hobbled Kyrie Irving, there is real potential for him to have some joy in this series.

Having been kept under the incredibly tight watch of Bradley Beal in the last round, it almost seems inevitable that Kyle Korver will get greater freedom against Cleveland. All he’ll need is an inch, and with J.R. Smith likely on him he may get many more than that.

DeMarre Carroll has been the surprising star of the Hawks’ post-season so far, scoring in volume and in a whole variety of ways. This is the series that will bring him back to his roots as a defensive stopper. The self-titled Junkyard Dog has held LeBron James to only 9 points on 3-15 shooting when the pair have been directly matched up in two previous meetings in the regular season.

Then there’s the powerful combo punch of Paul Millsap and Al Horford, who have the athleticism, versatility and defense to cause nightmares for Cleveland. Arguably Atlanta’s two best players, expect Millsap and Horford to have their say on the outcome of this series.

Next: Benches