No Kyrie Irving? No problem for the Cleveland Cavs.
LeBron James shined both as a passer and a scorer, ensuring all of the team's secondary scoring options got theirs while taking the ball straight at the Atlanta Hawks all night long. It worked, as the Cavs have taken a 2-0 stranglehold on the Eastern Conference Finals after a emphatic 94-82 Game 2 victory in Atlanta.
Atlanta matched up decently with Cleveland in the first 24 minutes, using their trademark balanced attack to keep it within five, 56-51, at the half.
However, the Hawks offense went completely ice cold in the second half, scoring just 33 points in the final 24 minutes giving LeBron and company and opening to shoot the lights out in Atlanta with the help of a rousing 30-point third quarter.
As the blowout progressed, Atlanta may very well have lost more than a game. Kyle Korver went down with a sprained right ankle, DeMarre Carroll couldn't stay on the court for long and Al Horford was taken out for a time after an apparent right knee injury.
If one or more of those guys can't go for the remainder of the series, Atlanta's chances may be beyond slim to get back in this series.
Key Numbers: 19-4, +18
The Cavs took charge of this game with a blazing 19-4 run in the third quarter, extending a five-point lead to twenty and silencing the Hawks' home crowd for the rest of the night.
The other big number? +18. The Cavs were +18 in points from beyond the arc, hitting six more three-pointers than Atlanta to beat them with one of their own strengths.
Cleveland MVP:
It can't be anybody but LeBron James. LeBron finished with 30 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, baffling the Hawks at every turn with pinpoint passing, pull-up jumpers, and repeated aggressive drives to the rack. Another signature game for The King.
Atlanta MVP:
Four Hawks finished in double digits scoring-wise, but we can't give this award to anybody on the squad after the definition of a lackluster effort. Atlanta loses two games in a row on their home court for the first time all season, and the second loss came about in the most troubling of fashions.
What's Next?
The Hawks will look to pick themselves off the deck in Sunday's Game 3 in Cleveland. Tipoff is slated for just after 8:30pm local time.
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