A split was what they needed, but the Cavaliers doubled down on their work in Atlanta to take a 2-0 series lead. They did it with LeBron James leading the attack as always. Without Kyrie Irving, they connected on 12 three pointers, running away with it in the third quarter and putting the Hawks on life support by virtue of their 94-82 victory.
Cleveland Cavaliers 94
Atlanta Hawks 82
Box Score
With Kyrie Irving’s knee tendinitis still affecting him, the Cavalier medical staff chose to sit him for Game 2. Conversely, DeMarre Carroll made a very surprising return from a knee hyperextension with a bone bruise suffered in the series opener just two days prior. The Cavaliers didn’t let it phase them though as they employed the next man up mentality.
30-9-11 – With Irving out, LeBron needed to be great, and he most definitely was. His 30 points led the scoring effort, but as teams in this postseason have learned the hard way, LeBron the distributor is as potent and lethal or more than LeBron the one-track-mind scorer. LeBron’s first seven assists were on three point buckets, and he found his own three-point shot again briefly, hitting 2-of-7 attempts. It didn’t matter whether it was Carroll, Kent Bazemore, Mike Scott, Paul Millsap, or Kyle Korver, James mothballed the squeezing isolation and attacked early and often, even late in the fourth quarter. The single most impressive thing from James was turning a pair of shots to passes and assists at the last second. Coach David Blatt said that he was “running out of superlatives for that guy” regarding his star player, and I’m inclined to agree. LeBron is the driving force behind this team now more than ever.
12-6 – The Cavaliers dominated the three-point arc against a team that is equally capable of lighting it up from long range. The wine and gold (and navy) were 12-of-30 for 40%, while Atlanta was just 6-for-26 (23%). The Hawks are now just 10-for-49 in the series from three. Kyle Korver had eight early points in this game, but Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith did a tremendous job to limit his looks, especially from the arc.
33 and 9 – The Hawks only managed 33 points in the second half, and their starting five (the one with four All-Stars) had just nine second half points. Paul Millsap was whisper quiet, scoring just 4 points to go with 5 rebounds. Carroll was clearly limited at both ends and missed a couple of open shots. Al Horford and Kyle Korver both battled injuries in the second half. While Horford was able to return after appearing to tweak his knee, Korver did not return after Dellavedova fell on his ankle. Jeff Teague after a fantastic Game 1 shot just 5-of-16 for 12 points and just two second half points. One thing Irving’s absence did was galvanize the team defense even more and allow Dellavedova to take up the task of covering Teague and Schroder.
For those that continue to say the Cavaliers are a bit lacking on the defensive side of things haven’t been watching the playoffs. They have been the best defensive team in most categories, and they’re even better with Irving sitting. Their primary unit of Dellavedova, Shumpert, Smith, James, and Thompson can all switch comfortably, and most importantly, they’re repeatedly limiting Atlanta to one shot.
16 – Tristan Thompson was once again a menace on the boards, finishing with a game-high 16 rebounds and grabbing five of the team’s 11 offensive boards. While Thompson struggled from the line, missing his first five shots and hitting just 3-of-9 overall, he managed seven points and two blocked shots while outplaying Millsap and Horford for 41 minutes. Thompson has accepted the challenge of contesting these guys on mid-range shots, and he’s still been a huge problem for Atlanta on the glass.
3 – In the third quarter, the Cavaliers took control for the second straight game. They shot 50% in the quarter and had six assists as they got a pair of threes each from Dellavedova and Shumpert. The Hawks had zero assists and shot 7-for-22. For the game, Atlanta had just 15 assists compared to Cleveland’s 17. In the slower pace and greater isolation of the playoffs, the Hawks are now struggling to find their way without an alpha dog scorer.
15 – The one thing Atlanta did was convert Cleveland turnovers into points. They had 15 points off turnovers, but a good chunk of those came in the first half. The only other thing that was a positive was Dennis Schroder’s team-leading 13 points as he slipped into the paint a couple of times with dribble penetration. The Hawks did have 48 points in the paint, but their complete lack of an outside threat did them in.
72.2 – That was Iman Shumpert’s defensive rating in Game 2. It was by far the best on a team full of impressive defensive ratings, so it goes to show just how important Shumpert was in slowing Atlanta’s attack in his 34 minutes of action. Offensively, he hit 6-of-11 shots after a 1-for-7 shooting output in Game 1. His 16 points were second on the team, and he connected on 4-of-6 threes. When Shumpert is going on both ends, he is the kind of guy that can be the difference maker in an entire series.
The other guys – The Cavaliers kept basically a seven-man rotation with a brief spurt for Shawn Marion while James rested in the first half. TImofey Mozgov had the ball in his hands a lot in the first quarter, and he posted 10 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes. Matthew Dellavedova was just 4-of-13 shooting, but his 11 points, six rebounds, and four assists were big for the cause in addition to his defense. Also, James Jones added 9 points on 3-of-5 shooting plus two rebounds and two steals.
For those saying that J.R. Smith would have to play hero again with Irving down were sadly mistaken. That’s the beauty of this Cavs team right now. With James leading the charge, the team is going to let Thompson and Mozgov do their thing on the glass and hope for two or three good shooting performances from Shumpert, Smith, Dellavedova, and Jones. Right now, the Cavaliers are defending at an elite level, sharing the basketball, and beating the Hawks at their own team game.
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