Cleveland Cavaliers Are Officially In The Atlanta Hawks' Heads

For some reason, this postseason has had two consistencies when it comes to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Firstly, the Cavs have decimated their opponent for two straight Game 2s. They rolled over the Detroit Pistons in the second game of their opening series and just wrecked the Atlanta Hawks in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semis last night.

The other consistency? Players from each respective opponent’s need to open their mouths after such convincing losses.

For Detroit, it was rookie Stanley Johnson making the ill-advised claim he was in LeBron James‘ head. As we all know, this belief proved to be false.

Atlanta, however, took a different route – calling out Cleveland’s apparent lack of class.

After watching the Cavs score an NBA single-game record 25 threes en route to a 123-98 win, the Hawks decided to take their opponent to task. With the end result already determined, Cleveland spent the fourth quarter chucking threes in order to break the record. More than a few players within the Atlanta locker room claimed they’d never do something that classless.

Did the Cavs do anything wrong in the formality that was last night’s fourth quarter? Absolutely not.

Does the Hawks complaining about it anyway pretty much mean Cleveland is in their heads? Yes. Yes it does.

For those who missed the quotes, they sure were entertaining. First, there’s forward Paul Millsap.

“It’s a certain way of being a professional,” Millsap said. “I’m not mad about it, but just being professionals man. If that’s how you want to approach it, that’s how you approach it. I think our team and our organization has class and I don’t think we would have continued to do that, but other organizations do other things so what can you do about it?”

Al Horford continued down the same “some teams just aren’t as classy as us” route, claiming Atlanta would never do anything like that. Kent Bazemore, however, implied there’d be some sort of karmic retribution for what Cleveland did.

Most people hear these things and either a) are local Atlanta fans siding with their team or b) think the Hawks are whining after such a humiliating loss.

I’m in the latter camp, but I also think these comments imply the Cavs have taken over the mental aspect of this series.

For one, all three Hawks players who commented on the matter claimed they weren’t upset. However, if you’re not really mad, why even make comments like that in the first place? If you weren’t irritated by the three-point barrage, why put on the “we have more class than that” routine?

Secondly, just what exactly did you expect Cleveland to do? Despite the fact the game was over at halftime, there was still a fourth quarter to play. Everyone knew there was a record to break, and with the Cavs going to their bench after the third, is it really that surprising they spent most of the frame shooting threes?

Please note, Cleveland wasn’t taunting the Hawks with every made three. The starters weren’t still on the court. The Cavs weren’t mercilessly pouring it on Atlanta.

Was there something else Cleveland should’ve done, something classier? You can’t take a knee in basketball. The players can’t just go out and spend the fourth quarter collecting shot clock violations.

Despite the Hawks’ beliefs, nothing the Cavs did was an example of classless basketball or being poor sports. That Atlanta felt the need to complain about what happened just highlights the fact Cleveland has taken over this series both physically and mentally.

If the Hawks had a problem with what was happening on the court, why were they giving up so many open looks in the first place? Why was the entire team essentially going through the motions as soon as the game was out of reach? If they were this irritated, why not show an ounce of fight?

The fact is any other team – even Atlanta – would’ve done the same thing the Cavs did last night. The Hawks feeling the need to call Cleveland out for this isn’t an indication they’re a part of a classier organization. Instead, it’s proof the team may already be relegating themselves to the fact this series could be over by Sunday.