A brief recap of how the Hawks fell behind 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals:

How the game was won: Much like in Game 1, Atlanta mustered little second-half offense, the Hawks again were whipped by the long ball as Cleveland made 12 3-pointers to Atlanta's six, and again the Hawks beaten on the boards, 47-39, in a game played out by the Hawks' rarely-used subs.

Cavs reserve guard J.R. Smith came nowhere close to matching his career playoff-high 28 points (he scored nine), but LeBron James did his thing with 30 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, Iman Shumpert made four 3-pointers while scoring 16, and sub forward James Jones drained 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.

Kyle Korver found traction to score 12 points, but they were all in the first half and after trailing 54-49 at halftime, the Hawks hit just 13-of-38 shots (34.2) in the second half after making 12-of-37 in the second half of Game 1.

Reserve guard Dennis Schroder led Atlanta with 13 points.

Turning point: After the Hawks took a 17-15 lead on two Korver free throws with 2:46 left in the first quarter, the Cavs made good use of a timeout and went on an 11-2 run during which James scored six of his 13 first-quarter points. After James made two free throws following a flagrant foul by Pero Antic with 1:57 to go in the first, the Hawks never tied or led.

Number: 20.4. Atlanta has made just 20.4 percent of its 3-pointers (10-of-49) in the series. The Cavs' 3-point defensive field goal rate 28.6 percent allowed leads all playoff teams.

Next: The Hawks and Cavs will meet in Cleveland Sunday evening for Game 3.

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Atlanta Hawks' Kristaps Porziņģis celebrates with Trae Young and Nickeil Alexander-Walker during the first half in a preseason NBA basketball game at State Farm Arena, Thursday, October 16, 2025, in Atlanta. The Hawks will open the regular season next week against the Raptors. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

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Members of the conversion crew take a break as the main scoreboard is lowered to the floor to be worked on as the arena gets ready for the next concert at State Farm Arena, Thursday, October 2, 2025, in Atlanta. The crew was working on creating a stage for the Friday, Oct. 3 Maxwell concert. (Jason Getz/AJC)

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