CHICAGO: LeBron James has a long history of ending the Chicago Bulls’ seasons. Now he has the chance to do it again.
The Cavaliers can clinch homecourt advantage throughout the Eastern Conference while eliminating the Bulls from playoff contention with a victory at United Center on Saturday night.
The Indiana Pacers had a chance to do both Friday night, but lost 111-98 at the Toronto Raptors.
So it’s up to the Cavs to clinch homecourt and eliminate the Bulls — which would be a stunning fall from grace for a team that had the Cavs on the ropes in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season. As it is, James’ teams have beaten the Bulls in the playoffs four of the last six years.
The entire roster will be available Saturday except for Mo Williams, who returned to Cleveland for yet another MRI on his troublesome left knee. It has been an ongoing issue throughout the season and Williams re-aggravated it during his five minutes on the floor in Wednesday’s loss at the Pacers.
Coach Tyronn Lue is hopeful, however, that the latest setback doesn’t mean Williams’ season is over.
“Just trying to figure out what’s going on with his knee,” Lue said. “Hopefully we can get what we got out of him these last few games. I thought he played really well. I thought he made some shots and defended really well.”
Williams previously missed a month because of the knee and has battled issues with it the last couple of years. He received a second opinion in February from Dr. James Andrews, who diagnosed him with chondromalacia and gave him an injection. Williams has played in six of the last seven games.
The muddied Eastern Conference playoff field is at least showing a little bit of clarity. It seems likely the Cavs will open the postseason against either the Pacers or Detroit Pistons, although James isn’t yet paying attention to either.
“It’s been shuffling so much between the three seed and nine that I don’t look at it too much,” he said. “It’s moving every day so you can’t indulge on one team or two teams. You just wait for it to land and then you get ready.”
The Cavs’ first-round opponent may not be determined until the final day of the season. Coincidentally, they host the Pistons to conclude the season, although it seems unlikely James plays in that game. Others could be resting by then, too.
Lue reiterated Friday after practice his goal is to clinch the top seed and then rest guys the last few games. James seems to be on board with that, too. Traditionally, he has rested on the final day of the season when everything in front of him had been clinched.
“I think from an injury standpoint, you would hate to have one of your guys, one of your big guns or anyone that’s in the rotation, to get hurt on the last game of the season going into the postseason,” James said. “I’ve pretty much rested when I’ve had the No. 1 seed sewn up the last game of the season just for the simple fact that I know I’m more needed that weekend than I am that weekday.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.