IMO Niko will be the x-factor in this series. If Niko can come off the bench and contribute to close 2nd/4th quarters WHILE PLAYING PF the Cavs will have their work cutout for them.
-First off, Kyrie is not getting off on Rose with ease. I see a bunch of 5-17, 8-22 type games from him.
-Snell has the ability to lock up JR and will not give him easy looks.
-Jimmy will guard Lebron as well as anyone (not that it will matter, LeBron will get his)
-Niko can absolutely give Love fits on both ends. Niko can guard Love and can also blow by him on offense. This will be the key matchup IMO (god I hope Thibs manages these rotations correctly)
-Noah and Mozgov is a wash for the most part defensively but I'd give the edge to Mozgov overall. If Gasol can give us 15-10 a night with average defense I'll be more than happy.
-AB will kill Dellavedova.
-Taj/Tristan is a wash IMO (but I won't lie, Tristan's rebounding scares me)
-Shump/Snell is more or less a wash.
The thing that scares me most about this series is how well Cleveland can defend Rose and Jimmy in late game situations. They will most likely close with LeBron and Shump in tight games, and may even start Shump a few games on Rose. Meanwhile, they can easily hide Kyrie on Snell/Dunleavy which really sucks. Luckily Rose is getting a lot of practice with taller, athletic defenders in Milwaukee.
Either way, should be a great series... baring injury
