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Cavs host Hawks in Game 2 on Wednesday
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 5/4/2016  at  12:09:00 PM
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ATLANTA HAWKS (52-37)

at CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (62-25)

NBA Playoffs
Eastern Conference – Round 2
Tip-off: Wednesday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: Cleveland -7.0, Total: 198.0

The Hawks will be looking to even up the series when they face the Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena in Game 2 Wednesday.

Cleveland was dominating Atlanta early in Game 1, but the Hawks battled all the way back and made it a close game. The Cavaliers ended up winning 104-93 as eight-point home favorites, but the score is a little misleading. The Hawks had a few opportunities to take the lead in the fourth quarter, but they were never able to get over the hump. They’ll need to shoot a lot better than 37.9% from the field, which is what they did in the opening game of this series. Cleveland, meanwhile, shot 44.6% from the floor and also turned the ball over just eight times. One thing favoring Atlanta in this game is the fact that Cleveland is 14-25 ATS after having won six or seven of its past eight games this season. The Cavaliers are, however, 9-1 ATS in home games against Southeast division opponents on the year. C Tiago Splitter (Hip) is out for the season for the Hawks, but he is expected to be the only player that will miss this game for either team.

The Hawks are coming off of a disappointing Game 1 performance and one guy that really needs to start playing better is C Al Horford (12.1 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 2.7 BPG in playoffs). Over the past five postseason games, Horford is averaging just 8.8 PPG on 36.5% shooting from the field. He is usually an extremely reliable player on both ends of the floor, so it’s weird that the Hawks now find themselves worrying about his play. Horford would be wise to get himself some easy buckets around the rim in Game 2, as it’ll give him some confidence moving forward in this series. PF Paul Millsap (16.4 PPG,9.4 RPG, 2.9 BPG, 1.3 SPG in playoffs) is also going to need to be better moving forward in this series. He had 17 points, 13 boards and four blocks in Game 1, but he was just 6-for-19 from the floor in that one. He’ll need to be more efficient, but he also needs to be a lot better defensively. Atlanta is now using him to guard LeBron James in this series, so it’s going to be important that he finds a way to contain the Cavs’ superstar. One last player that needs to be mentioned is PF Jeff Teague (15.3 PPG, 5.7 APG in playoffs). He had just eight points on 2-for-9 shooting in Game 1 and the Hawks need him to do more in his matchup with Kyrie Irving moving forward.

The Cavaliers did some good things in Game 1, but they’ll need to be more consistent with their effort moving forward. One huge positive for the Cavaliers is that SF LeBron James (23.2 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 7.2 APG, 2.4 SPG in playoffs) found his stroke in that game. James had 25 points and did it on 11-for-21 shooting from the floor and 2-for-4 shooting from the outside. He had really been struggling with his jumper heading into that one, so perhaps he’ll be a bit more confident the rest of the postseason. PG Kyrie Irving (26.2 PPG, 5.4 APG, 1.2 SPG in playoffs) continued to play good basketball for the Cavaliers on Monday. Irving had 21 points and eight assists in that game and really set the tone by coming out hot for Cleveland. If he can continue to win his matchup with Teague then it’s going to be very tough for the Hawks to win. Cleveland will, however, need PF Kevin Love (18.4 PPG, 11.8 RPG in playoffs) to shoot better moving forward. He is just 7-for-32 from the floor over the past two contests and needs to be more efficient. It’s possible that his injuries are bothering him, so it’s possible that he’ll need to earn himself some easier buckets around the rim.


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