Perhaps inspired by watching a pair of road teams steal home court advantage on Monday, the Hawks came into Tuesday's game in Cleveland with no fear -- and for at least the first two quarters, the game looked like it'd probably go to whichever team got hot near the end. Unfortunately for the Hawks, the first two quarters was all the time the Cavs needed to shake off nine days of rust, as Cleveland's modest five-point lead at halftime exploded into a 27-point lead by the final buzzer.
Cavaliers 99, Hawks 72: Recap | Box Score | Scoreboard
Cavs Lead 1-0 | Next Game: Thursday @ Cleveland, 7 PM ET
Cavs Lead 1-0 | Next Game: Thursday @ Cleveland, 7 PM ET
Josh Smith deserves a lot of credit for keeping the Hawks in the game in the first half, scoring 17 points in the first two quarters. Unfortunately, he scored just five points the rest of the way, and neither he nor anyone else on Atlanta's roster had any luck corralling LeBron James, who finished with 34 points, 10 boards and four steals without ever appearing to even exert himself.
Joe Johnson, perhaps the NBA's most anonymous star, failed to make any kind of serious impact on this game, finishing with 11 points on 5-10 shooting, tallying five turnovers to counter six assists. Sadly for the Hawks, Johnson's disappearing act has been a recurring trend in the postseason -- he's averaged just 12.5 points in Atlanta's four losses in the postseason, compared to 20.2 points in four wins. The Hawks just aren't good enough to beat the Cavs if Johnson, their most dangerous option and the second-highest paid player on the roster, can't even attempt more than 10 shots.
Flip Murray helped pick up the slack for Johnson in the past as Atlanta's secret weapon off the bench, but on Tuesday he remained a secret: he finished with just five points on 2-9 shooting, including 0-6 from beyond the arc. Perhaps Mike Woodson should consider having Johnson bunk with Murray on the road; it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if Murray's gun-slinging attitude were contagious.
As for the rest of the Cavs, they did what they do: Mo Williams filled the role of LBJ's primary sidekick with 21 points (4-8 on threes) while Delonte West chipped in 13 and eight assists.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-06-2009 @ 12:03AM
bwkappa said...
King James and his court just keep rolling!
Reply
5-06-2009 @ 6:42AM
jhl385 said...
I believe the Cavs will continue to dominate their way to the Championship series where it will be a battle with the Lakers. GO CAVS!
Reply
5-06-2009 @ 6:51AM
jojocbaseballwin said...
lebrons the best in the league against the hawks he can score more he played the celtics last year and scored 44 points the hawks suck and he scored only 34 points. bad times for lebron i was hoping for the heat to make it through but they lost if they won it would be a much closer series!!!!!
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5-06-2009 @ 7:27AM
daveenlakwood said...
Great complete win by a mvp and his team..... even though on Saturdays 850 am radio talk show, the idiot called the hammer, a punk from Denver, railed all morning how he was concerned that the Cavs would come out slow and possibly lose this game.... Attn Cav players::::::: don't give this guy any interviews.... he constantly is talkin his Denver BS about our team..... fans need to call Espn and send this Elway honk on a 980 mile drive bank to Denver for good.... Aaron Goldhammer, a guy who changed his draft pick for the Browns daily, knows nothing about Cleveland Sports, and he doesn't no much about sports in general..... if it wasn't for Tony Rizzo providing him cover as he hangs up on every fan like Ken of Brookland, an avid Cavs fan, he wouldn't have the gig..... The day after the Orlando defeat in the regular season, the Hammer spent a Saturday saying that almost anyone with bigs could beat the Cavs, and made it sound like the Cavs were a mediocre team...... any Aaron Goldhammer, if you're such a great radio host, why couldn't you get a job in Denver...... it's cause your takes suck buddy thats why. Be sure u jump back on the band wagon today...... you're a bust dude...... you want a real take on sports listen to the talk show hosts from Cleveland Munch, Rizzo, Michael R., and even Kenny Roda, even though he's a Pittsburgh dude, he knows his stuff......the last thing Cleveland needs is a Denver immature radio host hanging up on fans during a great NBA championship run...... call Espn fans and tell them you don't want his takes.
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5-06-2009 @ 8:18AM
VN said...
I happen to know exactly who/what you are talking about because I was listening that morning...but I am prolly the only one. You picked the wrong place to vent about a local small-time radio jockey (who is like a sideshow there). About 0.001% of the people will know what you are talking about.