The Cavaliers closed out Game 1 with a 17-5 run to earn the 104-93 win.
Advertisement
Aside from their 110-108 overtime win at Atlanta on April 1, the Cavaliers won their other two games against the Hawks this season by double-digits, and two of the Eastern Conference Finals wins from a year ago were won by 10-plus.
James scored 25 points and came up with two big steals late in the fourth quarter to help the Cavaliers seize the early initiative in the best-of-seven series at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena. If Korver doesn’t have a good look, a couple players said he’ll keep the ball moving in the Hawks’ system. “I know it’s more important that we make them miss first”. “I don’t think it has anything to do with this year”.
“We had so many opportunities there in the last four minutes”, Bazemore said. “He’s hurt us. I respect him”. He didn’t score his first fouth-quarter point until the 2:09 mark.
The stat sheet bore this truth out as with eight minutes left to go in the fourth quarter Teague had put in 20 minuntes and posted a – 9 from the floor on 2/9 shooting, while Schroder was 8/13 from the field, was a +8 and had posted 23 impressive points.
In Monday’s other playoff game, LeBron James led Cleveland past Atlanta in the opening game of that series.
While the teams stay the same, there are differences in both sides that could make this battle a little more interesting. “He made shots tonight and that opens up his attack game and him getting to the paint”, Budenholzer said.
Carl Hagelin added his third goal of the playoffs for Pittsburgh, which took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series on another contentious night guaranteed to keep the National Hockey League player safety office busy.
The Hawks made matters worse by missing six straight shots and turning the ball over three times from the point that they led 88-87.
Schroder scored a career playoff high 27 points, knocking down 50% of his total shots, including 50% from downtown after struggling from beyond the arc against Boston.
“I like that our guys come together when things get tough now”, Lue said.
“We just tried to continue to get stops”, James said. Love, who missed six of his first seven 3-pointers, knocked down a pair from long range and James finished a 2-on-1 break with a thunderous dunk to give Cleveland a 72-54 lead with 4 minutes left in the third. Remember, this was just an “OK” game for the Cavs, according to James. Irving added 21 point and eight assists for the Cavs. And the notion that an evenly balanced team could beat one with superstars took a hit as hard as a LeBron James screen.
Atlanta’s dilemma – and this is true for any Cleveland opponent – is that when a second player commits to guarding James, it makes it easier for Thompson to rebound.
“But this was a 15-man win right here – we needed everybody, even the guys who weren’t in uniform”.
Advertisement
The Hawks never got their rhythm back, and Schroder was blocked late by Irving that provided the exclamation point to the Cavs’ strong finish. Then, on the next possession, Irving put up a mid-range jump shot and got the friendly roll from the rim for his fifth basket of the game, a hoop that gave the Cavaliers the 12-point edge. Last season when these two teams met up in the Eastern Conference Finals Atlanta was swept by LeBron and company.
