Game One
First Quarter
What a start! James at the top of the key, passes it to Delonte on the left high post, Delonte hand off to James, who circles down the left wing and drives hard to the rim for the two handed dunk
- Good job by Josh Smith running the floor, he was about 15-20 feet ahead of Varejao by the time he hit the low post, good help D from Big Z makes him hesitate while Varejao gets back in position. Josh Smith goes up with it, rejected by Varejao, Smith gets it back, spins to the paint, up again and finishes this time.
- There’s some debris on the floor, the refs and ball boys are clearing it up.
- Mike Bibby knocks down a three to give Atlanta a 7-4 lead, steal by Bibby, passes ahead on a quick Hawks fastbreak, easy bucket for Horford.
- Anderson Varejao air balls a jump hook in the lane. It was a nice move until the finish.
- Atlanta hits five out of it’s first six shots, as Josh Smith slams home the ball after another quick push.
- Mo Williams nails a 26 foot jumper with two on the shot clock.
- Lovely passing from Atlanta, Bibby to JJ at the top of the key, pass over the top to Smith with Cavs defense still rotating, Josh Smith takes one move to his left and dunks the ball. Nice job by Josh Smith to stay in the paint tonight.
- LeBron James rips down a defensive rebound, off a Joe Johnson missed three (contested off the dribble), he runs up the right wing, goes hard to the rim, running layup, fouled. He makes one of two.
- Good defense by Varejao after switching onto Joe Johnson. He used his length and size well, to keep Joe on his hip and bother his passing angles + potential jumper.
- Oh my, what a dunk by Josh Smith, he cupped that ball and stuffed it home. Excellent, and simple, pass ahead by Mike Bibby on the break.
- Mo Evans airballs a three from the right wing
- Midway point in the first quarter, Atlanta leads 15-13
- LeBron gets Josh Smith on a switch, isolation for LeBron, top of the key, he’s dribbling, crossing the ball over and back and through his legs, sizing up Smith, dribbles down to 16 feet, steps back, hits a jumper
Four minutes to play — 17-17 Tie Game
Josh Smith runs over a referee while trying to foul LeBron at midcourt to stop a fastbreak. The ref needs a minute. He hurt his right knee and isn’t getting up, I think he just needs a moment though. Yeah, he’s good, he’s back up . They do have an alternate referee in the dressing room for these type of situations, if a ref can’t go, but this ref is all good.
Atlanta are switching on the pick and rolls, both teams are switching a lot, Zaza switches onto Delonte West. He does the exact same thing LeBron did against Josh Smith, top of the key, isolation, dribbles in, step back jumper, knocks it down.
Atlanta are on a 13-4 run to put them up 23-19 with two minutes to go, make that 23-20 after a Smith FT.
- Oh my, what a steal from Marvin Williams, he backed off two feet, had a hand in James’ face, James started dancing, tried a crossover, Marvin didn’t bite on anything, James tried to drive, Marvin with those long arms poked it away … steal. Lovely.
- Cleveland using a full court press, bothers Atlanta for a moment, but Marvin dribbles the ball up for the team. Atlanta get the ball over the halfway line easily, but then Atlanta choose to slow it down and play the clock, over to Flip Murray who’s posting up Gibson, and he draws a foul as he tries to make his way into the paint.
- Atlanta hold it for the final shot, JJ dribbling at the top of the key, defended well by Delonte, he’s pressuring the ball and trying to make a steal while staying in good defensive position, Joe drives inside, but misses the runner.
Second Quarter
Cleveland lead 25-21
The Cavs score the first six points of the quarter — a Williams jumper, a Wallace dunk and two Delonte West FTs — to open up a double digit lead.
- Wally Szczerbiak posts up down on the left block, backing his man down (Evans), double comes, kickout to the farside wing, Delonte West nails a three pointer. That gets a timeout out of Atlanta, they’re down a dozen points and Cleveland is on an 11-1 run over the past four minutes.
- Josh Smith misses another dunk — is that 3 in 3 games now? — an angry two handed dunk. Nothing complicated about the attempt, just a lot of power, too much power it turns out.
- Nice offensive rebound by Al Horford. He just out-jumped Ben Wallace and snatched it out of the air … oh another sweet offensive rebound, he cut down from the FT line, to the left hand side of the rim, no Cavs player noticed him until it was too late, he had position, and then he ripped the ball out of the air. He kicks it out and Atlanta gets a three pointer on their fourth attempt from the field on that possession.
- LeBron has re-entered the game — Cleveland outscored Atlanta 11-4 with James sitting.
- Atlanta is doing a nice job defensively on Ilguaskas, defended him well in the paint, missed short shot … fastbreak the other way, Flip Murray down the left wing, to the rim, layup. Nice switching of the hands there, and he used the rim well to protect himself from the shot blocker.
Cleveland leads 37-28 with 7 minutes to go
- Oh, oh, oh, that was nice, Josh Smith was on the right wing, was dribbling against Ben Wallace 15 feet out, he’s dribbling towards the middle, crossover baseline, picks up his dribble as he gets a step in front of Wallace, then steps back towards the middle to completely cut off Wallace, Wallace still hasn’t turned around and Smith is already on the other side of him, and Smith dunks it home. Nice move, how quick was that for a big man? Sensational.
- Pick and pop between Johnson and Horford on the left wing, Horford pops out a 16 footer, misses. Atlanta is 3-10 from the field in the quarter. Next possession, Horford knocks down a shot from the right elbow.
- Nice post up, and jump hook in the lane by Big Z over Hoford
- Joe Johnson trying to post up LeBron, LeBron gives him the middle, then as Joe takes it, Bron reaches around from behind and pokes away the ball … and he’s off down the wing, pass ahead, Bron on a breakaway, flies to the rim for a quick dunk
Josh Smith has 11 field goal attempts already, he’s made 6 of them, for 13 points. Nobody else has taken more than four shots for Atlanta. They have no offensive rhythm happening.
Zaza is back in the game, and he’ll defend Big Z. Ilgauskas posts him up, takes a fallaway along the baseline from 13 feet, misses it. Atlanta run up the other way, push the ball well, find an open Bibby for a three, he hits it!
43-39 Cleveland with 2 and a half minutes to play — Atlanta have done well to keep this game close despite their offense misfiring for most of the last quarter and a half.
- The Cavs outwork the Hawks, offensive rebounds by Varejao, James and Ilguaskas on back to back possesssions, to get a James dunk and a pair of FTs for Big Z.
- Josh Smith posts up Ilguaskas, takes a lefty hook off the left block, heading towards the baseline, and hits it over the big Lithuanian center
- Turnover Atlanta, Delonte West goes coast to coast for a layup. Cleveland leads 12-4 in fastbreak points.
- Turnover Atlanta, James brings it up slowly, screen from Varejao, James steps behind the screen and takes a 20 footer, misses, Varejao pushes Horford all the way down into the paint and below the rim, and grabs the offensive rebound, kickout to Mo Williams, three pointer? Miss
- Mike Bibby nails a three pointer to end the half — 4-4 from downtown for Bibby.
Halftime
Cleveland leads 49-44. Atlanta should be happy to have stuck so closely despite some poor offensive play for most of the half.
Mike Bibby has 14 points (5-6 FGA), Josh Smith has 17 points (8-13 FGA). Those two have 31 of Atlanta’s 44 points. Nobody else has more than four points. The rest of the team is 6-15 from the field.
Cleveland have done a very good job forcing turnovers, and have made Atlanta pay for those turnovers. They started to do better on the backboards later in the second quarter, but they are capable of doing much more there — fairly even on the boards at 18-17 Cavs lead.
Unusual for Cleveland, but they have only 6 assists on their 49 points. Atlanta on the other hand have 14 dimes on 19 buckets.
Third Quarter
Cleveland leading 49-44 to start the period
- Varejao with a nice fadeaway, he posts up down on the right block, turns middle, two on the shot clock, big fade on the fadeaway, right elbow sticking out, defender in his face, swish! Nice bucket
- LeBron James gets his first assist of the night, nice pass to Mo Williams in the corner for a triple. Nice high screen set by West to start the play off.
- Delonte West turns the corner on a screen and roll, knifes into the paint, uses the rim to protect himself, off the right wing, down the middle of the paint, lefty layup on the left hand side of the rim. He used his body well to stop Josh Smith from getting an angle on the block.
Timeout Atlanta. The lead is back to 10.
- Joe Johnson with a nifty layup in the lane. Nice little finger roll there.
- Great job by Varejao contesting an offensive rebound, knocked out of bounds of Josh Smith due to the pressure off Varejao. Extra possession … turned over by Delonte West, misread a Mo Williams cut.
- Nice tap out by Ilguaskas on the glass, to James, ahead to Delonte West, stolen, pass ahead to Joe Johnson who picks up a charge on his fancy pass to the rim (LeBron drew it). The missed shot to start the turnovers was also made by Joe Johnson, a nice drive, 13 footer in the lane after using his strength well to hold off West.
- Mo Williams hits another J from downtown
Cleveland leads 59-50 with 7 minutes to play in the third quarter
- LeBron James slices through the defense of Atlanta, nobody steps into the lane, uncontested layup
- Joe Johnson answers right back with a three pointer of his own, out on the right wing. He has 11 points in the quarter.
- Some nice passing from Cleveland, from James to a cutting Ilguaskas, nice interior pass to Varejao, but he missed the contested layup
- LeBron James knocks down a three after coming around a screen and roll on the left sideline. 10 point game, Cavs lead.
- Josh Smith back to the FT line. He was 1-4 from the stripe in the first half. He makes both.
- Baseline cut from LeBron, alley oop pass, slam dunk! James has 29 points a little past the halfway point in the third quarter
- James slices into the lane, takes the hit, strong move, gets up the shot, off the glass, hits it.
Four minutes to play — 68-56 Cleveland
- Oh what a pass from Z, great bounce pass to a cutting James for the layup, miss.
- Pick and roll between James and Z out on the left wing, good trap by Atlanta, Z rolls to the rim, James can’t find him, he passes it to the top of the key to West, West with a quick pass down to Z before the defense is there, Z with the layup, and the foul from Zaza as he rushed back. Three point play.
Cleveland are very big right now — Delonte West (6-3), James (6-9), Wally (6-7, 240lbs), Joe Smith (6-10), Z (7-3).
Great pass inside to a cutting Joe Smith, layup, missed, offensive rebound Ilgauskas, layup fouled. James came off a pick and roll with Ilguaskas on the left wing, dribbled middle, Joe’s defender went to hedge the gap as Z cut to the rim and left Joe Smith in too much space, James threaded the needle on a lovely bounce pass to Smith, one step, layup, but the miss. Ilguaskas hits one of two.
Final two minutes
- Wally World knocks down a three pointer from the right wing … he picks up a charge on the other end, turnover Hawks. Nice plays from Wally on either side of the court.
- West misses a layup, offensive rebound Wallace, out to Wally, two foot behind the three point line, he takes it, misses, offensive rebound Joe Smith, dunk attempt swatted from behind by Smith.
- Atlanta run the other way, to the rim, furious attack at the rim, Smith to the rim, dunk, foul … lot of bodies fall on that collision. He makes both, 22 points for Smith.
- Oh my, what a move from LeBron, he’s at the top of the key against Williams, goes right, spins left, no help, open lane to the rim, instant foul, but James is so strong and quick that he muscles up a shot in one motion and hits a layup. He makes the FT for the three point play.
- Inbounds to Murray, he dribbles up, high screen on the ball, he dribbles behind it and unloads a three, misses
Fourth Quarter
Cleveland leads 77-61 to start the fourth quarter — this game is pretty much over, I’ll just give score updates unless Atlanta makes a run. This is now garbage time.
- Cleveland extends the lead to 21 points after the first two minutes of the fourth.
- Cleveland still up 21 points with a little over 6 minutes remaining in the game
- Atlanta have 17 turnovers. Cleveland have 7.
- Atlanta only have 2 points over the past 6 months
- Cleveland up 24 points with three minutes to play
Final Score — 99-72 Cavs
