• Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

In game two of the Eastern Conference Finals the Cavaliers headed into Phillips Arena looking to take a commanding two game lead on the 1st place Atlanta Hawks. They were without their starting point guard Kyrie Irving as he sat out the game due to tendinitis in his left knew. The Hawks welcomed back DeMarre Carroll to the starting line up after a scary injury in game one of the series.

The Hawks would use Carroll as the main defender on LeBron James of the Cavaliers. However asking a player coming off an injury of that nature to try to stop a superstar in James was a risky move. The Hawks Kyle Korver hit a three to start the game on his second attempt to open up the scoring. The Hawks enjoyed a brief lead in the first quarter but then the Cavaliers took control of the game and never looked back.

James was masterful on the night, he was aggressive, potent and merciless has he carved up the defense of the Hawks and dominated every match up Atlanta threw at him. Carroll with that knee injury was absolutely no match for James and LeBron knew it. He made quick work of any resistance that Carroll put up against him. The Hawks then matched up Kent Bazemore with James, which only seem to ignite James as they got into a little shoving match towards then end of the first quarter. James went on the score 30 points, dished out 11 assists and grabbed 9 rebounds for the Cavaliers who were in complete control of this game. The Cavaliers big push came in the 3rd quarter when they just dominated the Hawks leaving their fans stunned and dejected for the remainder of the game. Iman Shumpert poured in 16points for the Cavs, while the Tristan Thompson gobbled up 16 rebounds. Irving’s replacement Mathew Dellavedova had 11 points and 4 assists.

The Hawks were perplexing throughout this game. They went away from everything that got them to this point in the season. There was no ball movement, little player movement ant they were taking tough shots. The Hawks players were not aggressive and let the Cavaliers do whatever they wanted to do offensively and defensively. The Hawks all-stars disappeared; Jeff Teague had 12 points on 5-16 shooting and did not take advantage of his mismatch with Dellavedova. Kyle Korver scored 12 points on 4-11shooting and also injured his right ankle. Paul Milsap was nowhere to be found scoring only 4 points in this game. Al Horford had 12 points but only took 8 shots. The Hawks were just not into this game for some reason, they seemed out of sync all night and did not play like the Hawks that won 19 games in a row and they did not play like the first place Hawks and they played like they did not belong in the Eastern Conference Finals. Their inability to score and move the ball has left them in a vicarious position. If they do not win game 3 in Cleveland they may not win a game in this series. They must get back to what got them here.

By Sherman Gomez

"Basketball is my favorite sport, I like the way they dribble up and down the court." "I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller." "Last week messed around and got a triple double." I write about basketball sometimes and then I try to go play....

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.