Miller and Shumpert to start for Cavs in place of Love, Smith
The Cleveland Cavaliers are going outside the box.
After listing power forward Tristan Thompson as the probable starter in their game notes, it appears David Blatt will start Mike Miller in place of Kevin Love for Game 1 against the Chicago Bulls.
Iman Shumpert will start at shooting guard in the place of the suspended J.R. Smith.
Thompson was widely assumed to be Love's replacement if the Cavs were to try to match the Bulls size for size. Thompson is a great rebounder - especially on the offensive glass - but he won't create space for Cleveland's offense the way Love did. Miller, 35, hasn't appeared in the playoffs yet and shot a career-low 32.5 percent this year.
Quick scan of Cavs' lineups and not surprising, but no minutes together for this five-man unit: Irving, Shumpert, Miller, James, Mozgov.
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) May 4, 2015
Expect to see LeBron James slide up to the four in smaller sets, with minutes likely available for 36-year-old Shawn Marion, who logged one minute of action against the Boston Celtics in the first round.
The Cavs have been off for eight days going into Monday night, twice as long as the Bulls.