The Cavaliers will look to wrap up their second sweep of these playoffs when they take on the Atlanta Hawks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, one of two games on tap for Sunday.
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This Cleveland team also does not look like the regular season Cavaliers.
Whatever the Hawks had planned for Game 3, they weren’t ready for what the Cleveland Cavaliers were bringing: an unexpected performance off the bench by Channing Frye. It’s just the Cavaliers were essentially unguardable, hitting threes at a plus-50% clip in four games thanks to the sort of offensive balance that had both dreamers and realists salivating since the day Kevin Love arrived from Minnesota.
After setting the National Basketball Association record for most three-points made (25) Game 2 of the second-round against Atlanta, Cleveland followed it up with 21 in Game 3.
In game three against the Atlanta Hawks, Channing Frye came off of the bench and scored a game high 27 points in just 28 minutes.
“We’re fighting for our playoff lives right now”, Al Horford said. Even when things aren’t going great, they still turn out pretty good.
It’s the second straight season Atlanta has been swept out of the playoffs by James and the Cavaliers. The bucket helped them build some momentum heading into the fourth quarter.With LeBron James playing all but 20 seconds of the third quarter, as Cleveland was trying to rally from a one-time 11-point deficit, it was time for him to rest.
Over the final six minutes of play, the Hawks posted an 18-12 run. It’s great that Cleveland could get stops down the stretch in crunch time, but I still am not insane with how frequently this teams defensive effort wanes from moment to moment inside games. Cleveland has broken the previous record set by the Golden State Warriors of 21 three-pointers by connecting 25 of 45 from beyond the arc in the Game 2. The Hawks led 101-99 after Frye’s three but James hit a three moments later to put the Cavs in front 104-103, their first lead of the half. The Hawks could not secure the ball before the clock expired. The speedy point guard drove into the lane but was surrounded by James and Tristan Thompson. Paul Millsap wasn’t messing around in the first quarter, where he scored 15 points and gave Atlanta a strong lead.
In the end, he wasn’t able to get the shot off before the buzzer. It’s clear by now that Atlanta simply does not match up well with Cleveland in a postseason situation, but that doesn’t mean the Hawks are going to give up without a fight.
One glance at PopcornMachine.net’s game flow illustrates Lue’s point.
The second half wasn’t much better for the Cavs, as they trailed several times.
After James knocked down a three-pointer, Love started the triple barrage when he buried a 23-footer from the left wing on a pick-and-pop.
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And why would coach Mike Budenholzer have his team thinking these two players would be on the floor together. The made shot fired up Love, who had a game-high 27 points through three. Toronto leads 2-1. James and Thompson had 10 apiece. But after James missed a 3, the Hawks opted not to call timeout. Millsap scored 19 points in the loss alongside nine rebounds, Horford added 15, and Thabo Sefolosha (starting for the second game in a row on LeBron) stayed aggressive on his way toward 16 points on 12 shots.
