Hawks Go Down 0-2 in Conference Finals

For the first time this season the Hawks lost back-to-back home games and it couldn’t come at a worse time.  Atlanta is now down 0-2 to the Cleveland Cavaliers after tonight’s 94-82 loss.

The Hawks started off the game a little sluggish had trouble hitting their stride as they were only 2 for 10 shooting to start the game.  The Hawks were able to regain their composure and put together a run but Cleveland still was able to maintain control of the game and finished the quarter up 26-21.

The Cavs used an aggressive LeBron James who had 13 points to lead all scorers in the opening period. Cleveland also doubled up on our boys off the glass with 14-7 advantage on the boards.  The visitors got questionable flagrant foul call in their favor late in the period against Pero Antic which helped them stretch their lead a little. One positive to take away from the 1^st quarter was an aggressive Kyle Korver who looked to get going and had 10 points to start the game.

The 2^nd quarter the saw some good basketball coming from both teams bench players.  During the session the Cavs got up by as many as 10 points but the Hawks were able to claw back with 8-0 run but could never take the lead away from their visitors from Ohio.  Cleveland benefited from some hot three-point shooting from James Jones and Georgia Tech product Iman Shumpert.  The team as a whole shot 7 for 11 from behind the arc.

The Hawks got some good energy off the bench from Kent Bazemore and Dennis Schroder who contributed a combined 12 points.  Atlanta had good ball movement getting 12 assists on their 20 first half field goals.  The Hawks shot 100% from the charity stripe but only got a third of the opportunities their opponents got during the opening half.

Things went from bad to worse for Coach Budenholzer’s club in the 3^rd period.  The Cavs kicked off the period with a 21-7 run and had the Hawks down by as many as 20 during the session.  The Hawks seemed unable to find an answer for LeBron James who provided 11 points and 5 assists for Cleveland during the quarter.

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The Hawks were not able to gain any ground on Cleveland during the final quarter.  After about the halfway point in period both coaches emptied out their benches.

Atlanta had 4 players to score in double digits tonight with the high being Dennis Schroder’s 13 points.  The Hawks could only muster 33 total points in the 2^nd half.  The team also had another disappointing shooting night from behind the arc going 6 for 26.

Cleveland got a near triple-double from LeBron who had 30 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds.  Atlanta also had a hard time keeping Tristan Thompson off the glass as he finished with game high 16 rebounds.

The Hawks will try to get their first win of the series on Sunday May 24^th, on the road in Cleveland.  Stay tuned to for more Hawks playoff coverage.