Cavaliers vs. Hawks: Game 1 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 NBA Playoffs, It was a rough day all around for the Atlanta Hawks as they dropped Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals and saw a key player get carried off the court with an apparent leg injury.
LeBron James and J.R. Smith had big games to help lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 97-89 victory Wednesday night at Philips Arena, earning a 1-0 advantage in the series. Still, the just-as-devastating news might be the injury to DeMarre Carroll, who went down with five minutes in remaining the fourth quarter and never returned.The Hawks—who were down 90-76 when Carroll left the game—seemed to rally around their fallen teammate with an 11-1 run to cut the lead to four with under a minute remaining.
Unfortunately, it was as close as they would get, as this dunk from James pretty much ended any chance of a comeback:James finished with 31 points, eight rebounds and six assists, continually adding himself to the record books:This time around, though, he got a lot of help from some key players. Both Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson managed a double-double, combining for 24 points and 21 rebounds. Overall, the Cavaliers out-rebounded the Hawks, 49-37.
However, the star of the day was Smith, who accounted for all 28 of Cleveland's bench points while helping the team pull away early in the fourth quarter thanks to lights-out shooting. He scored 17 points over just about five minutes of game time to help build an 18-point lead.
He also set a Cavaliers franchise record for most three-pointers in a playoff game, finishing 8-of-12 from downtown. Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead summed up Smith's play:David Blatt added, per CBS Sports, that "When he gets hot, he gets smoking hot."
This performance came after head coach David Blatt couldn't help but praise the 29-year-old veteran prior to the series opener, via Matthew Florjancic of WKYC:Atlanta's Jeff Teague came through with a solid performance with 27 points, though he didn't get much help, as Al Horford was second on the team with just 16 in the loss. The biggest problem was the poor shooting; the Hawks finished 4-of-23 from three-point range.
If Atlanta plans on evening this series, it will have to shoot much better, beginning with Kyle Korver, who took only five shots in the loss.
The two teams lived up to expectations of a close series right away with a competitive first half. The Hawks went up by as many as nine points in the first quarter before closing out the opening period up six.
Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick summed up things at that stage:The squads battled back and forth to a halftime score of 51-51, thanks to a buzzer-beating shot by Kent Bazemore.
While James was unsurprisingly the star for the Cavaliers with 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting, it was a bit more attention-grabbing to see Teague leading all scorers at halftime with 17.
When he wasn't blowing by defenders, he was using these types of crafty moves in the paint:Although it seemed Cleveland was set to pull away with an easy win, Atlanta made it a bit more difficult with a desperate run to cut the lead to single digits. Still, the Cavaliers held on with some key free throws to close out the win.
While the victory doesn't necessarily guarantee any success beyond Game 1, the Cavs now have to feel good heading into Game 2 Friday night at Philips Arena. The pressure is now squarely on Atlanta to avoid going into a 0-2 hole before the series switches locations.
Head coach Mike Budenholzer better hope Carroll can return to action or that his team can rally around the injured wing the next time out.
LeBron James and J.R. Smith had big games to help lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 97-89 victory Wednesday night at Philips Arena, earning a 1-0 advantage in the series. Still, the just-as-devastating news might be the injury to DeMarre Carroll, who went down with five minutes in remaining the fourth quarter and never returned.The Hawks—who were down 90-76 when Carroll left the game—seemed to rally around their fallen teammate with an 11-1 run to cut the lead to four with under a minute remaining.
Unfortunately, it was as close as they would get, as this dunk from James pretty much ended any chance of a comeback:James finished with 31 points, eight rebounds and six assists, continually adding himself to the record books:This time around, though, he got a lot of help from some key players. Both Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson managed a double-double, combining for 24 points and 21 rebounds. Overall, the Cavaliers out-rebounded the Hawks, 49-37.
However, the star of the day was Smith, who accounted for all 28 of Cleveland's bench points while helping the team pull away early in the fourth quarter thanks to lights-out shooting. He scored 17 points over just about five minutes of game time to help build an 18-point lead.
He also set a Cavaliers franchise record for most three-pointers in a playoff game, finishing 8-of-12 from downtown. Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead summed up Smith's play:David Blatt added, per CBS Sports, that "When he gets hot, he gets smoking hot."
This performance came after head coach David Blatt couldn't help but praise the 29-year-old veteran prior to the series opener, via Matthew Florjancic of WKYC:Atlanta's Jeff Teague came through with a solid performance with 27 points, though he didn't get much help, as Al Horford was second on the team with just 16 in the loss. The biggest problem was the poor shooting; the Hawks finished 4-of-23 from three-point range.
If Atlanta plans on evening this series, it will have to shoot much better, beginning with Kyle Korver, who took only five shots in the loss.
The two teams lived up to expectations of a close series right away with a competitive first half. The Hawks went up by as many as nine points in the first quarter before closing out the opening period up six.
Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick summed up things at that stage:The squads battled back and forth to a halftime score of 51-51, thanks to a buzzer-beating shot by Kent Bazemore.
While James was unsurprisingly the star for the Cavaliers with 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting, it was a bit more attention-grabbing to see Teague leading all scorers at halftime with 17.
When he wasn't blowing by defenders, he was using these types of crafty moves in the paint:Although it seemed Cleveland was set to pull away with an easy win, Atlanta made it a bit more difficult with a desperate run to cut the lead to single digits. Still, the Cavaliers held on with some key free throws to close out the win.
While the victory doesn't necessarily guarantee any success beyond Game 1, the Cavs now have to feel good heading into Game 2 Friday night at Philips Arena. The pressure is now squarely on Atlanta to avoid going into a 0-2 hole before the series switches locations.
Head coach Mike Budenholzer better hope Carroll can return to action or that his team can rally around the injured wing the next time out.
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