Hawks Drop Game 1 to Cavs 97-89

The Hawks fall short in their first Eastern Conference Finals game.  Cleveland handed Atlanta 97-89 loss to open the series.

The big stage did not seem to faze the Hawks in the opening quarter as they shot 61% from the field during the session.  Powered by Jeff Teague’s 9 points and ability to get to the basket as he pleased Atlanta seemed to have the game under control.  Our boys never got out to a monster lead as Cleveland stayed close was down just by 6 points and the end of the period despite only going 8 for 23 from the field.

The only problem Atlanta seemed to have early on was keeping the Cavs off the glass, in particular Tristan Thompson who 6 rebounds in the quarter.  The Hawks not only utilized good shooting but tight defense as they forced Cavaliers to 6 turnovers.

The Cavs found a little life in the 2^nd quarter starting off the period going on a 13-5 run against our Hawks.  Cleveland got a shot in the arm off the bench from reserve guard JR Smith who gave his team a few quick three pointers.  The Cavs also got a good period from superstar Lebron James who finished the half with 16 points.

The Hawks did not just run away during the 2^nd period and didn’t let the Cavs get away from them.  Jeff Teague continued to be unstoppable finishing with 17 points to lead all scorers before the intermission.  It appears that when he and guard Dennis Schroder are both in the lineup at the same time they were too fast for the Cavs.  The Hawks did finished the half with 57% shooting from the floor but could only manager 2 for 10 from three point range.

The 3^rd quarter all Cleveland as they outscored Atlanta 23-16.  The Hawks experienced a few long offensive droughts the most notable a 7 minute stretch to end the session.  The Cavs survived a small scare when Lebron James limped off the court but he was able to come back in and add 6 points for his team.

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The Hawks continued to struggle early on into the 4^th quarter.  Where Atlanta did not hit their first basket until over 2 minutes into the period.  JR Smith continued his brilliant game off the bench hitting 8 three pointers for the visitors.    To make matters worse for Coach Budenholzer’s team forward DeMarre Carroll went down with 5 minutes left in the game with what appeared to be a knee injury.  He did not return to the game.

Atlanta fell down by as many as 16 points in the final period but still had fight left in them.  They went on a 9-1 run with around 3 minutes left in the contest to bring game within single digits but couldn’t get any closer.  The period was dominated by Lebron James and Smith for the Cavs.

The Hawks had 4 players to provide double digit scoring efforts and where led by Jeff Teague’s 27 points.  Atlanta’s big problems came on the glass where they were out rebounded by 49-37 by the visitors.  The Hawks also only were able to hit 4 of 23 shots from the 3 point line.  The teams overall field goal percentage fell from 58% at the half to close the game at just 44%.

The Cavaliers looked a little more like what we are used to from the Hawks with 5 players scoring in double digits the number 2 team in the East.  Cleveland was led by James 31 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assist game.  They also got 28 points from JR Smith of which 17 came during the 2^nd half.

Fortunately the NBA’s version of the final four is series and we got another crack at the Cavs.  Next up is game 2 at Phillips Arena on Friday May 22^nd. Stay tuned for more Atlanta Hawks playoff coverage.