DEL.ICIO.USNBA Playoffs: Atlanta vs. Cleveland (Cavs lead series 2-0)
Hawks bow to King James, Cavs in Game 2
Add Joe Johnson to Atlanta’s walking wounded
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, May 07, 2009
CLEVELAND — The sight of 20,000 people waving white rally towels before the opening tip Thursday night should have served as fair warning for the Hawks.
Not long after that, the Hawks should have waved a white flag of their own, because there was no way they were going to stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
AP
LeBron James, left, Mo Williams, center, and Anderson Varejao look like a team leading a best-of-seven series 2-0.
Not with two starters in street clothes, another in early foul trouble, a third going down with yet another injury and Cleveland’s LeBron James at his MVP best early and often in a 105-85 Game 2 rout in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
There were actually 31 minutes of legitimate suspense in the Cavaliers’ 27-point Game 1 rout Tuesday night.
It didn’t last that long Thursday night as the Cavaliers stormed to a 2-0 series lead.
James drained a step-back 40-footer over Mario West at the halftime buzzer, rousing a sellout crowd of 20,562 out of their seats and shaking the roof of Quicken Loans Arena as the Cavaliers pushed their early lead to 24 points.
“They ate us up inside and out,” Hawks forward Josh Smith said after his foul-plagued night. “When a team is beating you like that, from all over the floor, it’s tough to get a lick in.”
Things went from bad to worse for the Hawks later when captain and All-Star Joe Johnson turned his right ankle on a layup attempt with 3:32 to play in the third quarter.
He limped to the bench with a severe ankle sprain and the Hawks trailing by 32 points, both of them done for the night long before the final buzzer.
While the reserves were on the court finishing the Hawks’ fifth consecutive blowout loss in this postseason — the Cavaliers’ biggest lead was 36 points — Johnson was in a wheelchair being pushed by one of the team’s doctors. They were leaving the Cavaliers’ locker room, where Johnson’s right ankle was being X-rayed.
The results were negative. And Johnson was upbeat on his way out of the building in a walking boot.
“I’ve got a boot on, but I ain’t walking out of here on crutches,” Johnson said. “I can’t see me not playing in Game 3 [Saturday at Philips Arena]. I’m looking forward to getting back out there with guys. And we’ve got 48 hours to get some treatment and try and get better, and we’ll see what happens.”
It was another dazzling showing from James and the Cavaliers, who have yet to be challenged for an entire game in six playoff appearances. They swept Detroit in the first round.
This series shifts to Atlanta for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday and Monday, respectively.
But if the Hawks can’t muster any more energy or healthy bodies at Philips Arena, there’s no reason to believe they’ll make a return trip here next week for Game 5.
“We were in the same situation last year with the blowouts in Boston,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “And we were able to go home and make a series out of it. Sure, we’re a little banged up right now. But we have a couple of days to try to regroup physically and get ready for Saturday’s game. But we do have to go back and nurse some injuries and see if we can get some guys ready to go on Saturday.”
Getting Al Horford (ankle) and Marvin Williams (wrist) back to some semblance of health by this weekend could certainly help the Hawks change the momentum of the series.
Both starters were in street clothes Thursday night, sacked by injuries that have plagued them throughout the postseason.
Smith picked up three early fouls and was on the bench with them for the final eight minutes of the first half, when the Cavaliers methodically stretched their early lead from impressive to flat out domination.
The Cavaliers pounded the Hawks inside and out and from up and down the roster.
Guards Mo Williams and Delonte West, before West took a Zaza Pachulia elbow to the face in the third quarter and did not return, worked the Hawks’ on the perimeter, shooting over the Hawks’ guards and anyone else who got in their way.
James assaulted the Hawks in transition, in the half court, at the rim and from beyond the 3-point line.
He finished with a game-high 27 points on 9-for-14 shooting from the floor. He also had five assists, four steals and three rebounds, igniting the crowd and his team with his every move.
“It’s not just LeBron,” Smith said. “Any time you let a team shoot 60 percent on you throughout an entire game, you’re just not giving yourself a chance to win.”
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