SWISH! He’s Ballin
With no Kevin Love, an injured Kyrie Irving and tired LeBron James going into the Eastern Conference Finals, it was a tough task for the Cleveland Cavaliers to come into Atlanta and beat the Hawks, but they did it.
The man they have to thank for that? J.R. Smith, who was putting up threes like Steph Curry with the pot. The boy set a Cavs record with eight made and tied the playoff high set by Curry himself. He ended the game with 28 points off the bench, completely obliterating anything the Hawks were doing off their own bench.
While it looked like Atlanta might have the edge in the first quarter, the Cavs came roaring back and even took the lead at one point in the second, as the two teams went to the locker room at halftime tied up.
As the second half progressed, it was King James versus the world, as he tried to put the team on his back and carry them to the first win of the series, but J.R. came through in the clutch as well to lift the Cavs on the road and give them back that homecourt advantage. Even when the Hawks seemed to stop them on defense every time out down the stretch, it was James who came in and finished it off.
The other storyline coming out of the game is the status of DeMarre Carroll, who left the game with an injured knee and is a major loss for the Hawks if he’s out for the series.
Game 2 will be played in Atlanta on Friday at 8:30 pm EST.
FINAL: CLE 97 | ATL 89