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Hype Video ----> https://youtu.be/9DnkDNmdASE

Boston's first. Cleveland's next.




V.S.




Schedule:

Game 1: Hawks @ Cavs, May 2nd, 7:00PM
Game 2: Hawks @ Cavs, May 4th, 8:00PM
Game 3: Cavs @ Hawks, May 6th, 7:00PM
Game 4: Cavs @ Hawks, May 8th, 3:30PM
Game 5: Hawks @ Cavs, May 10th, TBD
Game 6: Cavs @ Hawks, May 12th, TBD
Game 7: Hawks @ Cavs, May 15th, TBD

Keys to making this competitive:

DO NOT DOUBLE AND TRIPLE TEAM LEBRON! Don't pack the paint against him either. He'll just swing it and find a wide open 3 point shooter, like last year. It'll only get the Cavs in rhythm on their jumpers and that'll bury us. Keep Thabo on him when he's in the game, when he's not give him some different looks with Bazemore and Scott. Let Lebron get his, but don't let the 3 point shooters kill you. Use the same strategy as we did against the Magic in 2011.

Don't let Tristen Thompson kill you on the offensive glass. Last year he made all of our defense completely worthless by getting offensive rebounds. This is a series where sitting Kris Humphries won't be an option, he can bang with Thompson on the glass.

Limit the scoring droughts. We can't afford to go on a 4-5 minute scoring drought every single game. I'd be in favor of crashing the offensive glass when our shots aren't falling: you're at risk of transition buckets, but you also might break the drought by getting an easier look off of a rebound.

Teague and Schroder need to dominate when Irving is in the game. Schroder especially needs to step his game up when the bench is in the game.

I'm just afraid that Coach Bud will see how effective trapping Isaiah Thomas was in this first round series, and will try to do the same thing against Lebron, once again. The difference is that the Cavs actually have the shooters to make us pay for doing that.

Also, our best chance of stealing a game on the road is if we blitz them in game 1. We'll get the perfect amount of rest, while there's a chance of them being rusty from not playing for a full week. Any chance of us winning this series happens in game 1.

ATL Boy wrote:Keys to making this competitive:

DO NOT DOUBLE AND TRIPLE TEAM LEBRON! Don't pack the paint against him either. He'll just swing it and find a wide open 3 point shooter, like last year. It'll only get the Cavs in rhythm on their jumpers and that'll bury us. Keep Thabo on him when he's in the game, when he's not give him some different looks with Bazemore and Scott. Let Lebron get his, but don't let the 3 point shooters kill you. Use the same strategy as we did against the Magic in 2011.

Don't let Tristen Thompson kill you on the offensive glass. Last year he made all of our defense completely worthless by getting offensive rebounds. This is a series where sitting Kris Humphries won't be an option, he can bang with Thompson on the glass.

Limit the scoring droughts. We can't afford to go on a 4-5 minute scoring drought every single game. I'd be in favor of crashing the offensive glass when our shots aren't falling: you're at risk of transition buckets, but you also might break the drought by getting an easier look off of a rebound.

Teague and Schroder need to dominate when Irving is in the game. Schroder especially needs to step his game up when the bench is in the game.

I'm just afraid that Coach Bud will see how effective trapping Isaiah Thomas was in this first round series, and will try to do the same thing against Lebron, once again. The difference is that the Cavs actually have the shooters to make us pay for doing that.

Also, our best chance of stealing a game on the road is if we blitz them in game 1. We'll get the perfect amount of rest, while there's a chance of them being rusty from not playing for a full week. Any chance of us winning this series happens in game 1.

Your first point is the dealbreaker for this series. We are toast if Bud chooses to trap like he always does vs Lebron. Play him one on one and sag off of him. Beg him to shoot the jumper.

ATL Boy wrote:Keys to making this competitive:

DO NOT DOUBLE AND TRIPLE TEAM LEBRON! Don't pack the paint against him either. He'll just swing it and find a wide open 3 point shooter, like last year. It'll only get the Cavs in rhythm on their jumpers and that'll bury us. Keep Thabo on him when he's in the game, when he's not give him some different looks with Bazemore and Scott. Let Lebron get his, but don't let the 3 point shooters kill you. Use the same strategy as we did against the Magic in 2011.

Completely agree. Packing the paint on LeBron's drives to the basket isn't going to work when he has the option of dishing it out to Irving, Smith, or Love--all of which are more than capable of killing us with the 3 ball. I would consider inserting Thabo into the starting lineup to start off guarding LeBron and limiting him as best as possible. Then use Bazemore and Schroder as the first spark plugs off the bench to help out when we go through our offensive droughts. Humphries over Muscala seems like a no-brainer for this series matchup as well but ya never know.

Did LeBron James seriously avg 30 ppg 11 rpg and 9 apg against us in the ECF last year? Good grief, that's fantastic production.

Luckily for us, LBJ won't be putting up those kinds of numbers this playoff run. Unluckily for us, KI and LOVE are around to pick up the slack.

I see Tristan and KI having big series against us. Kyrie is avg a team-high 21 shot attempts per game. he is also the leading scorer as LBJ has taken on more of a play-maker's role...letting Irving essentially play 2-guard for long stretches.

We have to take KI out of the equation and minimize Love's open shots. That team struggles to deal with adversity. We manage to contain those two offensively...the finger pointing will begin swiftly.

Exploit K-Love defensively, attack the rim.

KK must score the rock.

Two ways to beat Cleveland would be to put single coverage on Lebron (like they did on Dwight when he was in Orlando) and don't let JR Smith shoot 40% from three, or just hit a barrage of threes against the Cavs like what the Hawks did to the Pacers in the playoffs in 2014.

It will also be better if Love stays healthy, because i fear Tristan Thompson and his defense on Millsap alot more then Kevin Love.

Already counting on JR Smith morphing into Steph Curry against us.

It'll be the battle of the pesky, obnoxious backup PGs also.

NOTE: M Delladova has an Assist to Turnover Rate of 16 : 1 this post-season.


Hilarious.

And impressive.

Ill be the debbie downer.

Hawks have NO SHOT at beating CLE. They are a vastly superior and more talented team. They will need the bench production to just annihilate the Cavs Bench but I think that Lue plays a lot of his starters. Bud has shown me no reason to think he would shorten up his rotation.

Bud has never had any answer for how to defend Lebron. And now, he has Kevin Love to kick it to unlike last year.

Horford is going to get eaten alive.

Teague and Schroder have to have A+ Elite games.

SWEEP IT, Cavs win this 4-0

^If Horford is guarded by LOVE, I think he has a chance to break out of the funk.

Millsap is likely to get swarmed and manhandled by Tristan. Leaving Horford open at the elbow for jumpers.

He has to be selfish...and assertive...and demand the ball at times.


Hawks-Cavs matchup info Here

Another key to making this series competitive: Korver must turn back into 2015 pre-all star break Kyle Korver. He needs to shoot at least 50% from 3, and place that sniper fear into the Cavs' defense.

Everyone needs to be completely on their game in this series. If we take game 1 then I think that our team will get a big confidence boost.

Unfortunately, I think if we are to win, it'll be a close match. And in close games against Lebron, the refs will become a part of the game.


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PandaKidd wrote:Ill be the debbie downer.

Hawks have NO SHOT at beating CLE. They are a vastly superior and more talented team. They will need the bench production to just annihilate the Cavs Bench but I think that Lue plays a lot of his starters. Bud has shown me no reason to think he would shorten up his rotation.

Bud has never had any answer for how to defend Lebron. And now, he has Kevin Love to kick it to unlike last year.

Horford is going to get eaten alive.

Teague and Schroder have to have A+ Elite games.

SWEEP IT, Cavs win this 4-0

I'm glad you decided to be the first Debbie downer because i didn't want to kick start this thread off with negativity

But, I'm a realist and will agree with you that we have z-e-r-o chance of beating the Cleveland LeBrons. I would consider it a success to win at least 1 or 2 games and a huge success if we could win 3 games.

Cleveland is favored to win by 8 points.

I hope we make a statement in this game and surprise them by winning.

Huge series for the Hawks. Game 1 is definitely a statement game. The extra rest for CLE and the fact ATL got swept by them last year may have the Cavs play down to them.

Playing man-to-man against LeBron sagging is definitely our best bet although it doesn't guarantee anything when the Cavs have so many scoring options and people like Kyrie who can create off the dribble. You already know JR will catch fire again, whether we play good or bad defense. And then you have TT on the boards...and down low on the block which will probably mess up Schroder's little scoop game really bad. Kevin Love getting his stride doesn't help either.

Hawkeyes wrote:Already counting on JR Smith morphing into Steph Curry against us.

Isn't ironic that some guy just comes out of no where and looks like an AS against us..lol

Please win the East....**** Miami, Toronto, & Cleveland lol.

Schroder and Horford will be the key in this series. If they play extremely well, we can win this series. Horford is going to HAVE to step in and take the midrange shot. With their lack of shot blocking at the rim, Schroder is going to HAVE to be relentless going to the rim and make his shots.

Also, the Milsap/Lebron matchup is a good one. We have to let that happen.

Last but not least, I am sure everyone knows the Miami/Cleveland matchup is the "desired" ECF. We can't get in too many close games where the refs can swing a game. We need at least 1-2 of those "Dear lord, are they going to miss?" moments. If they give us the shots they gave Detroit, we have to convert.

If we can push this to 6 I'll consider this season a success.


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Whats more dangerous long term? Going to game 6 and losing (or game 7) or losing in a sweep?

Im all for the sweep. I dont want ANY HOPE to the FO that they are "A PIECE" away. Yeah I said it.