Cavaliers steal Game 1 vs Hawks in ECF
- May 21, 2015
- 2 min read
The Cleveland Cavaliers have taken the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals after outstanding performances from both LeBron James and J.R. Smith. The Hawks were competitive and started out strong but were eventually outdone by their lack of scoring coinciding with Smith shooting the lights out, setting a franchise record eight 3 pointers.
The Cavaliers were clearly the better side on the night and had contributions from all over the floor; from Tristian Thompson stealing offensive rebounds like it's nobodies business to Kyrie Irving transforming into a spot-up shooter, but a damn good one at that. Smith was ultimately the difference in the game, hitting some downright ridiculous shots in the face of defenders as they closed out on him. There was even one shot he made, where he bobbled the ball before catching it, preferring to shoot the ball with a defender in his face rather than a wide open 3.
Of course there's also LeBron James who did LeBron James things. His final stat line finished 31-8-6 and his impact on the game couldn't be quantified. He took the shots that he wanted and it didn't seem like the Hawks had an answer for him, The King had free reign over the Hawks who eventually put Paul Millsap on him in the final quarter. LeBron would eventually toy with Millsap who, for some reason, was often seen defending James at 3/4 court. This made next to no sense to me and even Reggie Miller couldn't see the advantage is such a tactic.
The final scoreline made it seem a lot closer than it actually was and definitely wasn't indicative of the overall game for the Hawks who will be looking to bounce back in game 2 which is also at home for them. They looked flat for the majority of the game and couldn't get their offence into any sort of rhythm. Kyle Korver only attempted 5 shots the entire game, making 3 of them. This simply isn't enough for one of the deadliest shooters in the game today.
Finally the Hawks bench failed to provide any lift or spark for the team. There was an 8 minute stretch where the Hawks went 1-8, which came from a Kent Bazemore power dunk.
Dennis Schroder also proved to be ineffective, taking ill-advised shots and forcing the issue when a better option was often available for him to choose. He finished 2-10 and his lack of contributions meant that the Hawks had nothing going for them. Definitely Rajon Rondo 2.0.
Finally our thoughts go out to DeMarre Carroll who went down with a suspected ligament tear in his left knee. He suffered the injury while on a fast-break in the final quarter of the game. He will definitely be missed by the team and is averaging 18 points a game throughout the playoffs.
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