The best of seven series between the Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers is only two games deep, but a 2-0 lead has been a disaster for the Hawks who appeared headed for elimination.
While the Warriors held homecourt out west and head to Houston with a 2-0 lead, the Atlanta Hawks failed to take a single thing away from their two games at home to start their series. Well, that’s not really true.
One takeaway for the Hawks is that no one on their roster seems to be able to even moderately guard Lebron James. Atlanta watched James score 31 points with 8 rebounds and 6 assist in Game 1. Then he shifted into another gear that the Hawks are not aware exists, with a 30 point, 9 rebound, 11 assist performance in Game 2.
Another takeaway is that the Cavs do not need their starting point guard to absolutely demolish this Atlanta team. While Kyrie Irving spent Game 2 in street clothes, albeit fashionable and expensive street clothes, the Hawks never looked close to winning this game. It doesn’t matter if you lose by one point, like Houston did in Oakland during their Game 2 matchup, or if you lose by 12 after being down 18 at the start of the fourth quarter, like happened to Atlanta on Friday night – a loss is a loss.
But that isn’t entirely true, as Atlanta was completely blown out of the water. Their performance mirrored what we saw from the Bulls late in game 6 against Cleveland in the previous round. A one-seed team at home in a Game 2 should never look like they are down late in a close out game, about to be swept. That kind of lack of energy and execution was on full display in Atlanta on Friday night.
Bonus takeaway: The Cavaliers have found sustainability in unlikely places. J.R. Smith channeled the ghost of Reggie Miller, Ray Allen or Dan Majerle, I’m really not sure which it was. While Lebron was very much the dominant force on the court, his playoffs-high 18 ISOs in Game 1 were almost disastrous. Fortunately a career shooting night from Smith, 8-of-12 from three-point range, offset the Dellavedova/James Jones combo who went 0-for-9 on the night from distance. If Smith would have been the Smith we are more used to seeing, things might have been very different. Ultimately, that has been the difference — against the Bulls and again versus the Hawks, Smith and his benchmates have provided the perfect counterbalance to each other and the starters.
Quote of a lifetime: “It’s kind of hard, hitting the shots I was hitting, to try and pass the ball, but you’ve got to figure out a way.” – J.R. Smith
Smith was not only having the shooting game of a lifetime, he was finding the bravery to use his hot hand to pass the ball, even though it wasn’t easy. Thank You Based JR.
The Based God is also relevant to this series. Not even the favor of Lil B Tha Based God can help this Atlanta team look even remotely competitive. The Hawks missed layups, three-pointers, defensive assignments and completely abandoned ball rotation. The one time that they had some excellent ball rotation late in Game 2, the Cavaliers somehow managed to stick tight and chase four Hawks off of the three-point line.
Atlanta look about as far as possible from being the same team that won 60 games in the regular season and it doesn’t look good from here on out. Game 2 looked so bad that it just felt like I was watching a team ready to get swept, a team that was ready for some time to heal and a nice vacation away from Lebron and company.
And that is why I propose the following: A best-of-three series between the Cavaliers and the Rockets, winner plays the Warriors in the Finals. It would be great to see the Cavaliers play someone who actually wants to be out there and thinks they can win.
The fans would win. You get to continue watching the fantastic Golden State Warriors in the Finals. You get to see Lebron, Irving, Smith, Shumpert, Thompson, Dellavedova, Mozgov and whoever else is kind of healthy take on a good team that is healthy and doesn’t look lost or want their coach gone.
Unless everyone that plays for Atlanta suddenly gets healthy, remembers ball rotation and starts getting white-hot from three, the Hawks are likely heading home. The Cavaliers have done just about everything right in this series. They get to rest Irving, Lebron is finding his peak form knowing that the end is near, and the combo of Thompson, Smith, Dellavedova and James Jones has been just too much for either the Bulls or Hawks.
I would be disappointed but not surprised if we are reflecting on a sweep at our next check in. Last year’s holder of the No. 1 pick in the draft is on the verge of playing for the title of being No. 1 in the league. What a difference a year can make.
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