Tip-off: Tuesday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: TBD

The NBA season tips off Tuesday night with an Eastern Conference showdown between the Cavaliers and Bulls.

Cleveland is coming off a conference title season thanks in large part to the return of LeBron James after a four-year hiatus in Miami. The Cavs won 67 games (53 in regular season), but were just 49-53 ATS including playoffs. The team was also a losing wager on the road (24-27 ATS), but was 16-10 ATS (62%) with at least two days' rest. Chicago also had a strong season at 56-38 SU (47-47 ATS) including playoffs, and was also a profitable wager with at least a couple days off, going 13-9 ATS (59%) in that scenario. But the team's season ended with three straight losses in the second round of the postseason to this same Cleveland team, including 94-73 blowout in Game 6. Before those three wins, these clubs had split their previous 12 meetings 6-6 SU, including 7-5 ATS in favor of Chicago. Although the Cavaliers are 4-1 SU in their past five visits to United Center, the Bulls are 10-3 SU in their past 13 home games. Two major injuries for Cleveland are PG Kyrie Irving, who remains out indefinitely with a knee injury, and SG Iman Shumpert (wrist), who will be out until January. SF LeBron James, sat out the preseason with a bad back, but he'll be ready to go when the regular season begins. For Chicago, oft-injured star PG Derrick Rose is questionable for this game with an eye injury while SF Mike Dunleavy (back) is out until December.

Which Eastern Conference powerhouse will begin the season with a victory? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2015-16 season.

Cleveland's offense was very effective last season with 103.1 PPG (8th in NBA) on 45.8% FG (8th in league) and 36.7% threes (5th in NBA). The team hoisted the league's second-most tries from behind the arc (27.5 per game) and attempted the second-fewest shots inside the three-point line (54.7 per game). The defensive numbers weren't anything special with 98.7 PPG allowed (13th in league) on 45.6% FG (20th in NBA), but the Cavs defended the three-point shot pretty well (34.3%, 9th in league) and opponents attempted the fewest free throws in the league (19.9 per game). SF LeBron James has averaged 28.4 PPG, 7.2 RPG and 6.0 APG in 44 career meetings with the Bulls, and dropped 26.2 PPG, 11.0 RPG, 8.8 APG, 1.7 SPG and 1.7 BPG in the playoff series win versus Chicago. SG J.R. Smith averaged 12.8 PPG on 50% FG and 44% threes in that series, and will likely take on a heavy scoring load Tuesday with PG Kyrie Irving questionable and SG Iman Shumpert out. The key to this team getting back to the NBA Finals could be PF Kevin Love, who has been slowed by a shoulder injury recently. Love nearly averaged a double-double (16.4 PPG, 9.7 RPG) for a sixth straight season in his first stint with Cleveland. The team also needs C Timofey Mozgov to keep improving after a strong first initial campaign with the Cavs where he contributed 9.7 PPG and 7.3 APG in 25.3 minutes per game.

Chicago's offense did some nice things last season with 100.8 PPG (15th in NBA), 35.3% three-point FG (10th in league), 78.3% FT (3rd in NBA) and 45.7 total RPG (3rd in league). However, the Bulls made only 44.2% FG overall (22nd in NBA) and 47.4% FG on two-point tries (23rd in league), and were average in both assists (21.7 APG, 14th in NBA) and turnovers (14.0 TOPG, 12th in league). Defensively, this team was difficult to score on with its 43.5% FG defense (4th in NBA) and 33.5% threes (3rd in league), but still gave up more points than it would have liked (97.8 PPG, 9th in league). A big reason for the opponents low shooting percentage was the Bulls' hefty 5.8 blocks per game (5th in NBA) but they averaged the third-fewest steals in the league (6.3 SPG). Three players averaged at last 17 points last season in SG Jimmy Butler (20.0 PPG), C Pau Gasol (18.5 PPG) and PG Derrick Rose (17.7 PPG). But the trio wasn't as effective in the playoff series loss to Cleveland with Rose's 21.7 PPG coming on 38.5% FG and Butler's 21.0 PPG with only 40.7% FG. Gasol played just four games in that series and posted a pedestrian 11.5 PPG and 5.8 RPG. But head coach Fred Hoiberg is excited about the improvement of PF Nikola Mirotic (10.2 PPG, 4.9 RPG), who is expected to be in the starting lineup on Tuesday. But Mirotic will need to shoot much better than his 30.6% FG clip he produced for the Bulls last postseason.