Game Thread: Cavs @ Bulls (12/22)

<div align="center"><u><font size="5"><font color="#B84056">CLEVELAND CAVALIERS</font> @ <font color="#ED1B23">CHICAGO BULLS</font></font></u>

<u><font size="3"><font color="#B84056">PROJECTED STARTERS</font></font></u>

<u><font size="2"><font color="#B84056">CAVS</font></font></u>


<font color="#B84056">C Zydrunas Ilgauskas PF Drew Gooden SF LeBron James SG Larry Hughes PG Eric Snow</font>

<font color="#ED1B23">C Tyson Chandler PF MikeSweetney SF Andres Nocioni SG Chris Duhon PG Kirk Hinrich</font>




<u><font size="2"><font color="#ED1B23">BULLS</font></font></u>


<u><font size="3"><font color="#B84056">MATCHUP BREAKDOWN</font></font></u></div>

<font color="#B84056">Zydrunas Ilgauskas</font> v <font color="#ED1B23">Tyson Chandler</font> ? Chandler has been struggling to score this season, so expect him to do the same here with less than 10 points. However, his strength should allow him to crash the boards well, but with Ilgauskas in good form, Chandler will find it tough to provide for the Bulls.
<font color="#B84056">Drew Gooden</font> v <font color="#ED1B23">Mike Sweetney</font> ? Sweetney is slightly undersized for his position, but can score with relative ease. I expect Gooden to be ahead on statistics purely because they are playing a post position and Gooden is more of a post player.
<font color="#B84056">LeBron James</font> v <font color="#ED1B23">Andres Nocioni</font> ? Nocioni is a physical, tenacious ball player who, according to fellow Argentinean Manu Ginobili, has actually toned his game down. Expect a lot of contact for LeBron, but don?t expect that to stop him. LeBron to surpass Nocioni here.
<font color="#B84056">Larry Hughes</font> v <font color="#ED1B23">Chris Duhon</font> ? Bearing in mind that Ben Gordon will also come on and play either here or at SF, you have to say that Larry Hughes could have his work cut out here. He will need to be playing well on the defensive end to stop the offensive players. If he does that (and doesn?t miss any more layups) he should be victorious here.
<font color="#B84056">Eric Snow</font> v <font color="#ED1B23">Kirk Hinrich</font> ? Tricky matchup here for Eric Snow, and I don?t expect him to do much here. The only thing that the Cavaliers can hope for is that he manages to contain Hinrich.

<div align="center"><u><font size="3"><font color="#B84056">OTHER NOTES</font></font></u></div>

<ul>
[*]Since the entry of LeBron and Kirk Hinrich, the Chicago-Cleveland series stands at 4-4.
[*]The total points tally is 738-733 in the Cavaliers? favour.
[*]LeBron James has averaged 22.9-4.8-7.0 against the Bulls.
[*]The Bulls are 12-12 overall and 4-6 in their last 10.
[*]The Cavaliers are 14-9 overall and 5-5 in their last 10.
[*]Remember, that the Bulls have the 6th Man of the Year Ben Gordon on their bench, preparing to play 20-30 minutes and make a lot of points. He will need to be contained.
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<div align="center"><u><font size="3"><font color="#B84056">SCORE PREDICTION</font></font></u></div>

<u> <font size="2"><font color="#B84056">97</font>-<font color="#ED1B23">93</font> </font></u>