Five Keys in Order for Cleveland Cavaliers to Beat Chicago Bulls in Round Two

11 Min Read

3. Take Advantage of LeBron vs. Butler

LeBron James vs. Jimmy Butler
Get your popcorn ready for this player matchup, NBA fans, because it’s going to be fantastic to watch.

The emergence of Bulls shooting guard Jimmy Butler, the 30th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, into a star player over the last few seasons is quite an impressive story.

No disrespect to Butler, but as an NBA fan with biases aside, it’s very hard to pick against LeBron James in this particular matchup in terms of statistics, playoff experience and physicality. Butler, an excellent defender who can keep up with the best of players in the NBA, will certainly have his hands full with King James in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

2014-15 Regular Season Per Game Statistics Comparison:

Player Season Age G MP FG% 3P% FT% TRB AST STL BLK PTS
Jimmy Butler 2014-15 25 65 38.7 .462 .378 .834 5.8 3.3 1.8 0.6 20.0
LeBron James 2014-15 30 69 36.1 .488 .354 .710 6.0 7.4 1.6 0.7 25.3

2014-15 Playoffs Per Game Statistics Comparison:

Player Season Age G MP FG% 3P% FT% TRB AST STL BLK PTS
Jimmy Butler 2014-15 25 6 42.2 .476 .405 .791 5.5 3.8 2.5 0.8 24.8
LeBron James 2014-15 30 4 43.0 .467 .200 .741 9.0 6.5 2.3 1.5 27.0

Next: Bench Production

Share This Article
Andrew Salmi is a recent graduate of California State University, Fullerton after he previously attended Arizona State University. He is proud to be a staff writer for Cavaliers Nation. You can follow him on Twitter @andrewsalmi.