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Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Atlanta Hawks – Game 1
Game Time, TV: Wednesday, May 20th – 8:30 PM ET on TNT
Projected Starting Lineups:
Cleveland Cavaliers: PG: Kyrie Irving, SG: J.R. Smith, SF: LeBron James, PF: Tristan Thompson, C: Timofey Mozgov
Atlanta Hawks: PG: Jeff Teague, SG: Kyle Korver, SF: DeMarre Carroll, PF: Paul Millsap, C: Al Horford
The two best teams in the Eastern Conference will square off on Wednesday evening in front of an energetic Atlanta crowd when the Cleveland Cavaliers visit the Atlanta Hawks for Game 1 of the 2015 Eastern Conference Finals.
Throughout the season, many have predicted that the Cavaliers were the favorites to win the East. After a surprisingly rough start to the season, the Cavaliers rounded a corner after they acquired J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, and Timofey Mozgov in what proved to be a season-defining move by GM David Griffin. Although they will still be without Kevin Love, the tandem of Kyrie Irving (currently on one good leg) and LeBron James might be good enough to get the Cavaliers out of the conference.
On the other side, the Atlanta Hawks have been widely disrespected by NBA fans because their lack of a bona fide star. However, Al Horford has played lights-out basketball all season long, and the Hawks’ collection of perimeter shooting has been fun to watch for most of the season. Not only that, they have played the Cavaliers very well this year, taking three of the four games the teams played in the regular season against one another.
The key matchup for this game will be Irving vs. Jeff Teague. The Hawks play their best basketball when Teague is engaged on offense, and he must also find a way to pester Irving on the defensive side of the ball and not let him get comfortable running the offense.
I see the Hawks winning this game. A lot of people were saying they would be a second-round exit and that they weren’t a championship-contending team, and this game will show a lot about whether they have what it takes to grab four out of seven games from the mighty Cavaliers.
Prediction: Hawks 105, Cavaliers 100
Dan Schultz is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @dschultz89. “Like” him on Facebook and add him on Google.
