Written by Jeff Zillgitt at USAToday.com
A three-pointer for you Matthew Dellavedova, and a three-pointer for you Channing Frye. And two threes for you Richard Jefferson and three for you Kevin Love. And four each for LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, and seven – SEVEN! – for you J.R. Smith.
When the steady rainbow of threes stopped falling through the net (25-for-45, 55.6%), the Cavs were headed for their easiest victory of the postseason.The Cavaliers pummeled the Atlanta Hawks with a barrage of threes, making a playoff-record 25 three-pointers, including another playoff-record 18 threes – 18! – in the first half. It was the most three-pointers in any NBA game, regular season or playoffs.
“Tonight was a special night for our organization,” James said.
Cleveland soundly defeated Atlanta 123-98 in Game 2 on Wednesday, taking a 2-0 series lead in this Eastern Conference semifinal series.
“It was beautiful to watch,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “I thought we made the right play. We made the right pass. The ball moved and guys got their shots.”
With no way of knowing what Game 2 would hold, Lue did emphasize pregame the types of shots the Cavs were looking for.
“If you can shoot 40%, that would be great for us,” Lue said before Game 2. “At times you’re not going to make shots. My whole thing to my team is to continue to preach, ‘If you’re open and it’s you’re shot, you’ve got to take it and take it with confidence.’ Because the way teams are playing us, the way Atlanta’s playing us, they’re packing the paint, so guys are going to have to make open shots.”
James, who moved past Tim Duncan and into fifth-place on the all-time playoff scoring list, finished with 27 points on 9-for-15 shooting. He did not play in the fourth quarter.
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