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This shot will go down as one of the greatest moments in Cavaliers history. Lebron James hit a 3-pointer as the clock expired with one second left and go on to win 96-95 and tie the series 1-1.
LeBron James authored one of the epochal single game performances in NBA playoff history–49 points on 20-30 field goal shooting, eight assists, six rebounds, three blocked shots, two steals–but the Orlando Magic erased a 16 point lead to steal homecourt advantage with a 107-106 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in game one of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavs fell to 4-2 when James scores 40-plus points in a playoff game, the only other loss coming in game seven of last year’s Eastern Conference semifinals versus Boston.
Dwight Howard led the Magic with 30 points on 14-20 field goal shooting and a game-high 13 rebounds; he also caused a nine minute delay at the 11:00 mark of the first quarter when his vicious two hand putback dunk separated the shot clock from its moorings above the hoop. Eventually, the decision was made to simply turn off the shot clock over the opposite hoop, place one shot clock on the floor on each baseline and then replace the damaged shot clock at halftime.
Howard, the Defensive Player of the Year, did not record a blocked shot but he was called for goaltending three times and, ironically, had his own shot blocked four times. Rashard Lewis finished with 22 points and seven rebounds and he hit the game-winning three pointer with :14.7 remaining in the fourth quarter. Hedo Turkoglu tallied 15 points, a playoff career-high 14 assists and six rebounds.
Turkoglu is Orlando’s Mr. Fourth Quarter and that proved to be the case in this game as he scored nine points and dished off for seven assists in the final stanza, outdueling James, who had 10 points and two assists in the fourth quarter. Mickael Pietrus contributed 13 points off of the bench, while starting point guard Rafer Alston had a solid game (11 points, eight assists, one turnover). J.J. Redick, who was Orlando’s starting shooting guard in the previous series versus Boston, received a DNP-CD (Did Not Play–Coach’s Decision) because there is not a suitable defensive matchup for him.
Depth has a been a major strength for Cleveland this year but that was not the case in this game. Mo Williams had 17 points and five assists but he shot just 6-19 from the field. His backcourt partner Delonte West got off to a good start with six first quarter points but he finished with 11 points and six assists, shooting just 4-13 from the field. Anderson Varejao (14 points on 6-8 shooting, six rebounds) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (10 points on 5-11 shooting, 10 rebounds) had solid games but the Cavs got just five points from their bench, all of them scored by Joe Smith.
James was the last Cavs starter to score but after he nailed a jumper at the 3:42 mark of the first quarter the Cavs already led 23-14 and it certainly seemed like their versatility and depth would be the headline story of this game. Instead, James became the focal point of the offense while ball and player movement slowly but inexorably ground to a halt. Initially, this one dimensional offensive attack proved to be effective because James made virtually every shot he took and the Cavs held the Magic to just 2-7 three point shooting in the first half. Thus, even though Howard broke loose for 18 first half points on 8-11 shooting, the Magic fell further and further behind; James scored 26 points in the final 15:42 of the first half to set a franchise record for points in one half of a playoff game and the Cavs led 63-48 at halftime after Williams hit a three quarter court shot to beat the buzzer.
In the third quarter, the Magic chipped away at the lead while the Cavs missed long jumpers and committed careless turnovers. The Cavs surprised the Magic in the first half by matching up James versus point guard Rafer Alston while West checked Turkoglu, echoing a favorite Phil Jackson strategy of putting a big defender on the opposing point guard in order to disrupt the other team’s offensive flow (the Cavs have done this before with James, most notably by putting him on Chauncey Billups in the playoffs a couple years ago). Orlando Coach Stan Van Gundy countered this move by going to more screen and roll sets with Turkoglu and this made Cleveland Coach Mike Brown adjust by putting James back on Turkoglu, the natural forward-forward matchup. It will be interesting to follow this game of chess between the two coaches as the series progresses; in this game, the Cavs never found an effective answer for the Turkoglu-Howard screen/roll play and that is why Turkoglu racked up so many assists down the stretch.
Cleveland was clinging to an 82-78 at the end of the third quarter when James went to the bench for a brief rest. After Anthony Johnson’s three pointer at the 10:06 mark of the fourth quarter gave the Magic their first lead of the game (85-84), the Cavs called a timeout and put James back in the game. Neither team led by more than four points the rest of the way. James drove to the hoop and kicked the ball to West for a three pointer with :40.8 remaining to put the Cavs up 103-102 but Lewis answered with a jumper to make the score 104-103. James converted a three point play to give Cleveland a 106-104 lead with :25.6 remaining; Howard fouled out on that play, so all the Cavs needed to do was guard the three point line and the worst case scenario would have been an overtime session with Howard on the bench. The Magic called timeout and ran a play for Lewis to drive to the hoop; the Cavs stopped his dribble penetration but Lewis gave the ball up and popped back out behind the three point line, where he received a pass from Turkoglu, jab stepped and drilled a three pointer over Varejao. It is hard to understand why Varejao reacted to Lewis’ fake, because the three point shot was the only thing that could kill the Cavs at that time.
On the Cavs’ final possession, James drove to the hoop but the Magic trapped him and forced him to pass the ball to Williams, who swung it to West for a three pointer from the same spot on the left baseline where West had just drained a trey but this time he missed and James and Turkoglu ended up in a jump ball situation with just one second left. The Cavs had no timeouts remaining–in part because they burned some of them earlier in the quarter to give James some rest because he was cramping up. James won the tip and directed the ball to Williams, whose last second fling was off the mark.
Before the game, Van Gundy told the assembled media that the Magic are a very “resilient” team and he echoed that point in his postgame press conference, stressing that his team stayed focused and did not try to make up the large early deficit all at once. Van Gundy candidly admitted that he has no answer about how to guard James and although he acknowledged that Orlando’s tough series versus Boston helped to prepare his team to face adversity in this series he said that the bottom line is “you got to put the ball in the basket. We want to make it all these other things, who wants it more, all the psychological stuff, my coaching, everything else…Rashard put the ball in the basket, now I’m really good.”
Someone asked Howard about Van Gundy’s halftime speech and Howard revealed that Van Gundy told the Magic that they were all playing like “witnesses,” a reference to one of LeBron James’ advertising campaigns. Howard said that this message “really motivated us…brought some fire out of us.” Howard also admitted that his team drew some extra motivation from the way that most outsiders considers the Magic to be underdogs in this series.
Coach Brown lamented that his team’s offense became so stagnant and said that defensively he and the coaching staff will have to look at the film to come up with some answers for the Magic’s screen/roll game. He also offered an upbeat message: “That’s why this is a series. A series is not won nor lost after one game. I have confidence in our guys. I trust our guys. We’ll be ready for game two.”
Brown and James consistently offer the same public message on a variety of subjects–including that one–so whether this is simply a case of two people thinking alike or James wholeheartedly buying into his coach’s philosophy it is very clear that Brown and James share the same perspective (something that is not always true of Van Gundy and Howard, as we saw during Orlando’s series with Boston, though both men claim to have patched up their differences).
James and Williams came to the postgame press conference together (as did Howard and Lewis previously). James has a remarkable ability to analyze a game like a coach; many players would say that in order to win this game the Cavs just needed to make open shots but James declared, “A team shooting 55 percent on our court in a game is unacceptable for all of us. We know that. That’s not how we play basketball and that’s not how we are going to win. We should have lost giving a team 55 percent from the field.” Obviously, Coach Brown will have an easy time preaching defense prior to game two, because his best player has made it very clear that the Cavs must improve in this area; I recall hearing a lot of excuses after various Phoenix Suns’ playoff losses in recent years but I don’t ever remember hearing Steve Nash or Shaquille O’Neal admitting that they had to play better defense.
Then James did something even more remarkable, taking the blame for his team’s stagnant offense despite the fact that he scored 49 points on .667 field goal shooting: “Offensively we were stagnant at times, maybe because I felt the hot hand. I got back to the one-on-one play that I had in the past. But I felt I had it going individually. But we only had five turnovers as a team. It is not like we were not playing basketball the right way. We missed some really good shots…We shot 48 percent from the field, so for the most part that’s a pretty good game when you have 19 assists and only five turnovers.”
James assessed Cleveland’s offensive performance exactly like a coach would: the team shot reasonably well and took care of the ball, yet it is undeniable that there should have been more ball and player movement in the second half, even though James shot an outstanding percentage from the field. However, Williams was not about to let James shoulder the responsibility for the offensive problems: “I want to add to that last one. I don’t think that him going one-on-one was a factor. I think he had it going. That’s part of our offense, for him to attack his man. I think the key–the key–the biggest key to the game was myself…I have to take pressure off that guy. I’m looking at the stats and I’m looking at Dwight and I’m looking at Rashard and I’m looking at Hedo and those three guys were terrific tonight. And I look at myself, 6-19, LeBron is 20-30 from the field. I don’t care, he can go one-on-one all he wants. I got 19 shots still. It wasn’t him.”
The Cavs’ roster consists of grown men who don’t make excuses and who take personal responsibility for their performances and that kind of character and professionalism are hallmarks of championship teams.
By winning game one in Cleveland the Magic seized homecourt advantage and that is a significant accomplishment. We know that roughly 80% of game one winners go on to win the series but we also just saw the Lakers drop game one to Houston and come back to win that series in seven games; when the team with homecourt advantage loses game one that team has a much better chance of coming back than when the underdog team loses game one so, as James correctly noted in his postgame remarks, the Cavs should not feel or act like the world is caving in on them. People who predicted an Orlando series victory may feel smug at the moment but the reality is that game one provided plenty of fodder no matter which team you picked: for the first 24 minutes the Cavs showed that they could single cover Howard and build a sizable lead by withstanding his onslaught while shutting everyone else down; then in the second 24 minutes the Magic adjusted, found their three point shooting stroke and eked out a narrow win. A game that was decided in the final seconds can hardly be cited as definitive proof of one team’s superiority.
The Cavs are a defensive-minded team that rarely blows leads or loses at home, so one could either view this game as an aberration or as the start of a disturbing trend (we’ll know the correct answer in a few days). The Cavs’ offense became stagnant and they suffered some uncharacteristic defensive breakdowns. Which came first? It is hard to say, because when your defense breaks down you have to inbound the ball and score against an entrenched defense and when your offense breaks down the opposing team often gets opportunities to score in transition, so this is a classic chicken/egg conundrum. It is easy to pull out isolated numbers and make bold statements such as “The Cavs needed 49 points from James just to stay close, so the Magic will roll the rest of the series because he cannot keep up that pace” or “The Magic rely too heavily on three pointers/jump shooting, so they are bound to lose some games when their shots don’t drop” but the reality is that each playoff game is a separate entity. James may not score 49 points again in this series, but Howard may also not keep making the running shots that he hit in the lane and Turkoglu most likely will not have another 14 assist outing. Barring key injuries, the best team will win a seven game series and I still believe that Cleveland will prevail due to defense, depth, rebounding and LeBron James’ individual brilliance, though the exact balance of that formula will shift from game to game.
In his pregame press conference, Van Gundy explained that Courtney Lee would take over J.J. Redick’s spot in the starting lineup due to matchup considerations, primarily because Lee is a better defender off of the dribble than Redick is, though Van Gundy hastened to mention that Redick is a “tough, disciplined competitor who makes very few mistakes.” Redick’s weakness, according to Van Gundy, is defending quick guards off of the dribble but Van Gundy said that Redick has made great strides defensively and has also improved his passing skills as well. I agree that Redick has improved in both areas and this indicates that he has worked on his game but despite Van Gundy’s laudable effort to praise his player while benching him the reality is that if a former lottery pick has such glaring deficiencies in his game that he cannot even get on the court for one minute in the Conference Finals then that is a significant indictment of that player’s skill set, no matter how one chooses to spin the situation.
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Coach Brown said during his pregame press conference that he anticipated that Lee would replace Redick in the starting lineup, though Brown told the media that he expected that Lee would guard LeBron James in order to keep Turkoglu out of foul trouble. Brown said that the keys for the Cavs during this series would be floor balance and shot selection on offense, while on defense the Cavs must run back to bodies in transition as opposed to simply sagging into the paint. In other words, defenders must pick up shooters at the three point line, even if that shooter is not your assigned man. James evidently heard that message loud and clear, because when he was interviewed separately just moments later he mentioned that bigs like Ilgauskas may have to cross match and pick up somebody like Lewis in transition in order to prevent Lewis from shooting a quick three pointer.
James’ pregame standup was dominated by questions from ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, so you probably have already seen those questions and answers on SportsCenter. It took a couple tries to get a word in edgewise–Duane Rankin of the Erie Times, who was standing next to me, whispered, “Keep asking,” perhaps not realizing that I am a stubborn person who would have done so even without his encouragement–but I finally got James’ attention (it helps to be tall, at least for a non-NBA player, and to have a voice that projects very well even without a microphone) and asked him, “What was your impression of the game last night, the shootout between Kobe and Carmelo?”
James replied, “Well, it really wasn’t a shootout. I thought that it was a great game. I look at it as a missed opportunity for the Nuggets. They pretty much–they played a great game but a few possessions down the stretch just didn’t go their way. So, the Lakers team is a really good team and it was great to see Melo and what he was able to do. He is definitely growing as a basketball player and of course Kobe did what he does every night, so it was a great game for a fan.”
I then asked him, “Did Carmelo change defensively from playing on the Olympic team and seeing some of the great defensive players on that team? We have never really seen him play defense the way that he did last night against Kobe.”
James answered, “He just took the challenge, man. Like I said (earlier in this interview session), there are just four teams left and you have to do whatever you need to do to win. During the regular season, some guys may not feel the need to play defense at a high level–I don’t know why.” James smiled as he said that and it is evident that he is convinced that it is important to play defense at a high level all of the time, even if some of his peers don’t share that belief. He then continued, “Right now there are four teams and you have to win eight games to win the whole thing. This is no time to be resting. Resting is for July, August, September and a little bit of October, too.”
Here is a video of Lebron James unbelievable shot from behind the basket after Sunday’s practice. Enjoy!
Although the Cleveland Cavaliers posted the best regular season record in the NBA and swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs in record-setting fashion, some people believe that the Orlando Magic will pose a very difficult challenge for the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals.
TNT’s Charles Barkley has already gone on record predicting an Orlando victory, asserting that the Magic match up well with the Cavs and have a more versatile offensive attack with Dwight Howard in the paint surrounded by three point shooters. Throw in the fact that Orlando won the season series 2-1—including a 116-87 blowout—and just dethroned the defending champion Celtics by winning game seven in Boston and there seem to be legitimate reasons to think that the Magic can beat the Cavs. However, if one looks at this series objectively then it becomes evident that the Cavs should definitely be considered clear favorites.
LeBron James, the 2009 NBA MVP, is the best individual player on either team. James is a two-way player who has eliminated every one of his skill set weaknesses—defense, free throw shooting, three point shooting–except for his midrange jump shot, which can still be erratic at times.
It is a difficult task to keep James out of the paint and he is also a top notch rebounder and playmaker. Unless one team enjoys a marked superiority in overall talent/depth, the team with the best individual player is probably going to win a seven game series, because that player is capable of taking over a crucial game, particularly on the road.
Orlando’s best player is Dwight Howard, who made the All-NBA First Team and won the Defensive Player of the Year award (James finished second). Howard is a dominant rebounder and shotblocker but he will neither overpower defenders on the block a la a young Shaquille O’Neal nor does he possess the nimble footwork and deft shooting touch of Hakeem Olajuwon.
Therefore, Howard can be contained by a solid post defender who forces him to catch the ball outside of the paint; it is not necessary or desirable to double-team Howard unless/until he puts the ball on the floor and gets into the paint but Howard is not a great passer or ballhandler so if he is trapped on the move he can be forced into turning the ball over or taking a low percentage shot (which is just about anything other than a dunk in his case).
The Cavs have the necessary frontcourt depth, savvy and discipline to employ such a strategy, which means that their perimeter defenders can stay at home on Orlando’s deadly three point shooters. Look for James to have a much more pronounced impact on this series than Howard does.
The Cavs enjoy homecourt advantage in this series and that is a very significant factor considering that the Cavs went 39-2 at home—and one of those losses came in the final regular season game, when the Cavs had already clinched homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs and their reserves still almost beat a Philadelphia team that was trying to win in order to possibly improve their playoff seeding. Orlando’s game seven victory in Boston is impressive but beating an injury-depleted Celtics team is not at all the same thing as beating a fully-loaded Cavs team with LeBron James leading the charge.
What about the head to head series, including that 29 point beatdown? You can throw the first regular season meeting out the window: the Magic still had All-Star point guard Jameer Nelson—who later suffered a season-ending injury—while the Cavs were without the services of injured starters Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Delonte West and had yet to reacquire Joe Smith, who currently ranks sixth on the team in playoff minutes. In the second meeting, both teams had their current rosters largely intact and the Cavs won at home, 97-93. The third meeting—easily Cleveland’s worse loss of the season in terms of point differential—is a little easier to understand in light of the fact that it was the second of back to back road games and the third game in four nights for the Cavs, while the Magic had the benefit of a day off after playing a home game. This is what is known in NBA circles as a “scheduling lossâ€â€”if you stumble into a tough arena for your third game in four nights it is very difficult to beat a good team. Cleveland Coach Mike Brown realized exactly what has happening in that game, which is why no Cav played more than 32 minutes.
The foundation for Cleveland’s success is built on defense, rebounding and LeBron James’ brilliance. The addition of All-Star point guard Mo Williams has established yet another firm building block in that foundation but while many people have talked about Williams’ importance I still don’t think that the general public—and even some so-called experts—fully appreciate just how deep this Cleveland team really is.
Real experts—guys like former NBA coaches turned commentators Hubie Brown and Mike Fratello—have emphasized this point during telecasts of Cleveland’s playoff games: not only do the Cavs have a potent and versatile starting lineup but their bench is loaded with players who have been starters for playoff teams—either in Cleveland (Sasha Pavlovic, Daniel Gibson) or elsewhere (Ben Wallace, Joe Smith,Wally Szczerbiak)—yet those players understand and accept their current roles. The Magic cannot match the Cavs in terms of depth or playoff experience.
Game one on Wednesday night at the Q will revisit the classic “rest/rust†issue: will the Cavs be well rested after having so much time off between series or will they be rusty? The answer most likely will be “yes†on both counts; the Cavs may show some signs of rust—particularly in terms of shooting or their timing on certain plays—but veterans like Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Ben Wallace will benefit from the rest.
By the second half at the latest any signs of “rust†will likely have disappeared and the Cavs should be in good position to take a 1-0 lead; I expect the Cavs to win this series in five games, six at the most.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have got to be hands down “the team” to beat. I mean there are so many one liners that pop into my head I don’t know where to start so I’ll begin with Don’t Wake the Sleeping Giant.
Everytime LeBron James would touch the ball Phillips Arena would erupt in a whirlwind of boos. Did Atlanta fans learn nothing from Toronto fans, or even more recent game 3 when James exploded for 47 points and joined Michael Jordan as the only players in NBA history to score 45Â grab 10 boards and dish out 8 assists.
Yet it happened again tonight, James would get the ball and boos would arise,so what happened, James would score or find his teammates and they would score. There was even a moment when LeBron nailed a jumper and looked over to a courtside fan, and simply pointed to his own chest and said that’s exactly what I need.
Back to the actual game at hand, the Cavaliers are simply dominant.After the second close halftime score in a row(46-45, 40-38 both Cavs leads) the Cavaliers managed to stretch out another double digit victory (84-74) extending their own NBA record to 8 consectutive. But it wasn’t all good all the way, LeBron was somewhat aggravated at the Cavs “lobbying ” for foul calls.
James rallied his troops and told them it was up to them to win the game not the refs and to lay off. Can he be that mature that young, is he really 24? Yes he is King but there truly is no I in team.
LeBron put in 27 points 8 rebounds and 8 assists, a career night for many NBA players but for James just another day at the office. Yet the other players,Mo one night, Delonte another, then maybe big Z will step up another. Though tonight belonged to Delonte West who came up huge scoring 21 points, including a posterizing left-handed jam at the rim that really swung the momentum in Cleveland’s favor for the last time. He was 50%Â (2-4) from 3 point land and added 4 rebounds 6 assists.
Mo Williams added 12 points all coming from behind the arc (4-7). At one point in the final stretch of the game on 5 straight possessions the Cavs scored four 3 pointers and one old fashioned 3 point play really putting the Nail in the Coffin.
And as I was a witness Atlanta was a true Tale of Two Cities as it rained boos the entire game, in both games 1 and 2 , the closer the end came the softer the boos got and the louder, previously few and far betweeen, the M-V-P chants became until eventually echoing throughout the arena.
Philips Arena in Atlanta has become known as the “Highlight Factory†thanks to the aerial artistry of the young, high-flying Hawks but on Saturday night LeBron James swooped in and made the “Highlight Factory†his personal showcase. James dropped 47 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists as the Cleveland Cavaliers won 97-82 to take a 3-0 series lead. The only other player in NBA history to put up at least 45-10-8 in a playoff game is Michael Jordan.
This is of course not the first time that James silenced a road crowd with a signature playoff performance; he authored one of the most memorable games in playoff history on May 31, 2007 when he hit the Detroit Pistons with 48 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in a 109-107 game five win that helped propel the Cavs to their first NBA Finals appearance. James has now scored at least 45 points in four playoff games and three of those games took place on the road. Among active players, only Allen Iverson (seven) and Kobe Bryant (five) have posted more 45 point playoff games than James but both Iverson (four) and Bryant (three) have had more such games at home than on the road. A 45 point playoff game is usually a good thing for a team no matter where it takes place: the Cavs are 3-1 in James’ 45 point playoff games, while Iverson’s 76ers went 6-1 and Bryant’s Lakers have gone 4-1.
Most NBA players tend to perform better at home than on the road but in each of the past four seasons James has averaged more points on the road than in the friendly confines of the Q; in 2008-09, he scored 31.5 ppg in 41 road games and 25.4 ppg in 40 home games, though he did shoot better from the field at home (.502) than on the road (.479). James has scored at least 40 points in 33 regular season games, 20 of which took place on the road. His nine best scoring games—topped by his 56 points at Toronto on March 20, 2005 and including all seven of his 50 point games—all took place on the road; his regular season scoring high in Cleveland is 47 points.
It seems as if James understands that most players are less comfortable on the road, so he takes pressure off of his teammates by very aggressively looking for his shot away from home. This places opponents in a no win situation, because if they single cover James he is willing and able to score 40-plus points but if they trap him then he will feed his teammates for wide open shots. The Hawks have yet to solve this conundrum,as James is killing them with both his scoring/shooting (36.0 ppg, .610 FG%, .476 3FG%) and his floor game (5.3 apg, 1.3 tpg).
During game three, the Hawks were noticeably reluctant to trap James because he has proven that he will make the right pass out of double-teams and, just as importantly, his teammates have proven that they can make open shots; therefore, the Hawks simply switched on screen/roll plays, which gave James the opportunity to repeatedly shoot over the much shorter Mike Bibby.
It will be interesting to see what adjustment—if any—the Hawks make regarding this strategy. Will they single cover James, banking on him not continuing his hot shooting, or will they aggressively trap him and force guys like Mo Williams, Delonte West and Zydrunas Ilgauskas to make open jump shots? The Cavs are almost impossible to guard effectively for long stretches now because James has improved his shooting touch and GM Danny Ferry has surrounded James with a deep roster of players who can make open shots if James is trapped.
Magic Johnson, during ABC’s NBA Half Time show, had a message to Hawks’ fans; “don’t boo Lebron James“.
As he has done several times in his career, the reigning MVP, Lebron James, took a personal interest in punishing those fans by assembling perhaps his second greatest playoff game on record. These fans became witnesses and in the closing seconds he got loud “M-V-P” chants from the crowd.
James nailed 15 of 25 shots and five 3-pointers for 47 points. He added 12 rebounds and eight assists for his most prolific game of the playoffs thus far.
“I gave it all I had, I knew how important this game was,” said James. “A series is turned in Game 3s; you either go up 3-0 or it’s 2-1, so we handled our business,†said the team-first superstar. “That’s the important thing. No game is won in one or two or three games. So (on Monday) we have to bring the same intensity we did tonight.â€
All of the Hawks’ injured players were able to play and Joe Johnson had an impressive 21 points. Al Horford and Marvin Williams also returned from injuries. Flip Murray provided a spark off the bench with 17 points
No team has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit
Zydrunas Ilgauskas had his best game of the series, going 6-for-9 from the floor for 14 points to go with eight boards. Delonte West had 12 points and four assists.
The Cavaliers became the first team in the NBA to win seven straight postseason games by double-figures.
Are we sure the winner of the Kentucky Derby wasn’t named “Cleveland†because that’s exactly what the thoroughbred Cleveland Cavaliers looked liked in game 2 jumping out of the gates and never looking back.
The Cavaliers racked up an insurmountable 59-35 halftime lead, capped off by a pull-up three by LeBron James just inside of half-court, on their way to a remarkable 105-85 beat down of the Atlanta Hawks. If it’s even possible, the Cavs seem to be getting stronger and stronger with each game they play. The entire starting rotation was benched after the 3rd quarter as the Cavs point total at that mark tied the eventual total of the Hawks throughout the entire game(85).
LeBron James scored 27 (9-14) , Mo Williams had 15 (5-11), Delonte West 14 (5-10), Anderson Varejao (6-9) scored 12, and the only starter in single digits Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 6 (3-6) and keep in mind all in 3 periods. The second unit played the entire 4th quarter giving up 30 points to the Hawks and losing 10 points off their 30 point spread but they were playing hard. Plus this gives younger players like Darnell Jackson valuable playoff experience in case of injuries or foul trouble later down the line. Wally Szczerbiak scored 17 (7-9), several off powerful low post moves and even a rare jam off of a stellar behind the back pass from James on a fast break run-out.
Yet there was a scare for Cleveland in the 3rd quarter as Delonte West was poked in the eye by Hawk Zaza Pachulia and he did not return, but possibly just because of the Cavs huge lead. And to go from bad to worse for the Hawks, who are already missing Al Horford and Marvin Williams(combined 25 points and 15 rebounds per game )their All-Star Joe Johnson twisted his ankle and is considered doubtful for game 3 Saturday night at Atlanta’s Phillips Arena.
The Cavaliers are now only the 2nd team in NBA history to win their 1st 6 playoff games by double digits(18.2), and 94% of all teams leading a best of 7 series 2-0 eventually win the series.