NBA Standings: Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks Fighting for Central Division
The NBA's Central Division has been the tightest race in the Eastern Conference so far.
Even though the Eastern Conference falls dramatically short to the West, basketball fans can still watch three good teams fight for the Central Division championship.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks are the top three teams in the division.
LeBron James and the Cavaliers lead the division with an 11-7 record. It took a while, but the Cavaliers appear to have found their groove, winning their last six consecutive games. James leads the Cavaliers in assists and points scored. Although Kyrie Irving is the point guard, we've seen James take the ball up the floor and direct the offense mostly this season.
The Cavaliers rank 10th in the league in points scored per game at 103.1.
Kevin Love hasn't been the dominating force he was last year with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but the 26-year-old power forward leads the Cavaliers in rebounds and he is making a career-high 82.6 percent of his free throws. Love needs to improve his interior offensive game for the Cavaliers to have a chance at a championship. The Cavaliers rank 11th overall in defense so far this season.
Second place in the Central Division belongs to the Bulls at 12-8. Head coach Tom Thibodeau has done a great job considering his point guard, Derrick Rose, is injured so frequently. Ball movement has been a problem with Rose in and out of the lineup, as power forward Joakim Noah leads the Bulls in assists with just 77. Surprisingly, the Bulls are 10-3 on the road this season, but just 2-5 at home. The Bulls lost their last game to the Golden State Warriors at home, 112-102.
Pau Gasol has proven to be a good offseason addition. Gasol is averaging a team-leading 11.9 rebounds per game, and scoring more than 20 points per game. The Bulls have been an effective three-point shooting team this season, with Mike Dunleavy, Aaron Brooks and Kirk Hinrich leading the way from downtown.
With Rose having so many injury issues, the Bulls are expected to make a few big trades before the NBA trade deadline.
At 11-11, the Milwaukee Bucks are in third place in the Central Division and right in the thick of things. The Bucks are also in sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings overall. New head coach Jason Kidd has already made tremendous improvements from last season's squad. Last year, the Bucks won just 15 games.
With the second overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft, the Bucks selected Jabari Parker out of Duke. So far Parker has played well, shooting and making 48.7 percent of his shots from the field, and he has made the most two-point field goals on the Bucks this year. The Bucks don't have a dominant paint game, but Larry Sanders leads the team in rebounds and blocks.
The Bucks are one of the best passing teams in the NBA ranking 10th in assists. The Bucks don't have elite superstar power, but they are a very balanced team without huge flaws. It will be a very tough task for the Bucks to finish ahead of the Cavaliers and Bulls in this division, but depth and roster stability should make this a good race to the finish.
Unfortunately for the Bucks, they are 0-2 against the Cavaliers and Bulls this season.
The Indiana Pacers are currently 7-13, while the Detroit Pistons are just 3-18.
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