Recap: Cavs 118, Hawks 88 (and, “WE’RE NOT DONE!”)

That’s a lot of confetti… Fortunately, the Cavs brought their brooms…

Cavs fans… After 82 regular season games, and a scant 14 playoff games, including one last evisceration of the number one seeded Atlanta Hawks… we can finally say the six words we hoped we could following a summer of lottery luck, midnight signings, Love, and The Return of the King… THE CAVS ARE IN THE FINALS!!!

And now that we have that primal roar out of our collective systems, it’s time to embrace the four word subtitle of this recap, so sagely given during the euphoric post-game ceremonies by the first “rookie” coach to reach the NBA Finals since Paul Westphal (who did it in 1992 with the Phoenix Suns), David Blatt, with a preamble about the Land, its players and its people…

We’re in Cleveland. Nothing is easy here… But there’s a lot of love, and the best support in the world… and the people care… and the players give everything they have… And we’re not done.”

His sentiment was echoed by the man who has waited eight long years (and had to eat a lot of comic sans crow) to get his franchise back to this precipice, Dan Gilbert…

“Cleveland… we’re not settling for this. We want to take this thing the full way, right? Fifty one years is too long.”

And the man who’s been there five times before (and will now go for an incredible fifth time in a row), who’s been to the mountaintop elsewhere and came back to lead his people to the promised land, believes that this team can prevail…

“We have everything it takes to win. I’ve been there twice. We have grit… we have determination… we have the willingness to want to be great, and that’s from the first guy all the way down to the fifteenth. I think our coaching staff is going to prepare us the best way they know how to go against whoever comes out of the Western Conference, and we’ll be ready to go on June 4th.”

"I'm a guy who believes in unfinished business."@KingJames reflects on the journey it took to get to the #NBAFinalshttps://t.co/OcARu6HAvy

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 27, 2015

Game 4 itself was less a closeout game, and more of an equal parts demolition of the shell of the Atlanta Hawks (left empty and lifeless following a Game 3 overtime heartbreaker), and coronation of the new reigning Eastern Conference Champion Cavaliers. Despite the blip of an 0-2 start following a Jeff Teague layup, the Cavs never trailed again, pushing the final margin out to a near game high 30 points (it got to 31 a couple of times during the fourth quarter).

So, rather than the traditional rehashing of how it all went down… instead, I’ll give it to you “by the numbers…”

7 — The number of games the Cavs have now won in a row during these playoffs. Seven games since being down 2-1 to the Bulls. Seven games since Derrick Rose banked in a prayer of a game winner in Game 3 of that series. Seven games that started with the near infamous “time out that wasn’t” and the “scratched inbounds play.” In those seven games, David Blatt has gone from a coach that some (ludicrously) projected would be fired no matter the outcome of the season, to the first rookie coach to make the NBA Finals in 23 years (sorry Steve… you had your shot). Coach Blatt and his superstar player even had a terrific moment that was caught on a TNT Wired segment towards the end of the game…

https://vine.co/v/ebb6WxYv6KA

65 — The number of games the Cavs have now won in the regular season and post-season combined. A number that was hard to imagine the Cavs attaining as recently as mid-January, before David Griffin made two of the ballsiest mid-season swaps you’ll ever witness to retool a championship contender on the fly (eat your heart out Riles).

"The architect" David Griffin says his team cares so much for each other sacrificing at such a high level" pic.twitter.com/tVLzROyRN7

— Fred McLeod (@CavsFredMcLeod) May 27, 2015

5 — How many straight Finals the King will now have reached. Michael didn’t just do it. Magic didn’t pull off this trick. Nor was it part of Larry’s legend, or Kobe’s work. Not Wilt, not Kareem, not Duncan nor Hakeem. Just eight lucky Celtics, the last of whom (the great Bill Russell) finished his Finals run 50 years ago, join LeBron James on this rarified list… Oh, yes, and one more gentleman that you might know simply as The Champ. That’s right… James Freaking Jones also shares this honor with Bron and the shamrocks from another era.

3 — Number of assists LeBron fell shy tonight to just barely miss averaging a triple-double for the entire Eastern Conference Finals (he wound up averaging 30.3 points, 11.0 rebounds and 9.3 assists per game for the series). Not only that, but those same three assists (plus one more rebound) were all that the King was short for getting his second straight triple-double of the series. In all, he scored 23 points on 50% shooting with nine boards, seven assists, two steals, one giant block and only one turnover in just 29 minutes. After the grueling marathon that was Game 3, LeBron barely seemed to break a sweat as he effortlessly imposed his will from the start of this one. Not only did he bring his A-game and closeout face, but he once again elevated his team and his city to new heights.

Closeout face in effect…

22 — How many gutsy and fearless minutes Kyrie wound up playing (even though he probably didn’t need to for the Cavs to win). After the pain (both physical and emotional) of sitting out Games 2 and 3, Uncle Drew was back in action, albeit on a minutes restriction of 25. He managed to not only stay under that limit, but also managed to avoid re-aggravating his many injuries, despite several drives that ended with contact or Kyrie hitting the deck. Though he still didn’t quite resemble his highly-mobile regular season self, he seemed to find both rhythm and confidence in his shot and drives, scoring 16 points on 6-11 shooting (2-3 from deep) with five assists.

Kyrie hits an early three to get going…

44 — The number of rebounds that Tristan Thompson had in the four games of this series (you don’t have to be good at math to know that’s 11 per game). Canadian Dynamite exploded yet again on the Hawks, hitting his nuclear pogo-stick average on the boards, while also scoring 16 points by slamming down a few hellacious dunks off of put-backs and alley-oops… like this one…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdFhcRjvU_A

27 — The + differential for Iman Shumpert this game to lead the Cavs. Even though Shump’s shot wasn’t dropping this game, he found a myriad of other ways to contribute (as per usual), racking up eight boards, four assists, a steal, and led the Cavs stringent perimeter defense that managed to hold the Hawks to just 5-32 (15.6%) from beyond the arc. The man with the tall hair has been the key to the Cavs lock-down defense in the playoffs, and will continue to be the crucial perimeter defender in The Finals.

0 — Number of double-double games J.R. Smith had this year before pulling off the feat in each of the last two games. You might be wondering “what the heck kind of switch Earl flipped to all of a sudden become a double-double machine?” He incredibly had another 10 boards to go with the 10 he had in Game 3. He also had his NBA Jam stroke back, going 7-14 (including 4-10 from deep) for 18 points. He was once again the Cavs second leading scorer, and once again joined LBJ at the podium after the game.

"I look at Shump, and I just look in his eyes and see where we started from." To @TheRealJRSmith, this is "unreal."https://t.co/OXDXZxwlWU

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 27, 2015

7 — The tally on the Cavs’ block party tonight. Timofey Mozgov led the way with three and has anchored the Cavs, who are the post-season leaders with a collective 6.9 bpg. The Iron Curtain had perhaps his most active game against the Hawks, playing 35 minutes, scoring 14 points and ripping down seven boards. He also completely shut down Al Horford, holding him to just two points and two rebounds. Someday, he’ll teach his gigantic progeny the art of swatting shots (maybe with some practice at the Brew Garden), or posterizing guys like Paul Millsap…

56 — Not only how many birthdays David Blatt has had, but also the insane number of rebounds the Cavs pulled down in Game 4. It was 17 more than the Hawks were able to muster.

11 — Number of Cavs who scored points tonight. Six of them were in double digits, including the suddenly famous/infamous Matthew Dellavedova. Though the Hawks (especially Jeff Teague) did their best to intimidate Delly for much of the first half, he was still able to play gritty defense on the Atlanta guards (at several points receiving a rousing “Dellll-llly!!” cheer from the crowd). He also scored an efficient 10 points on six shots in 17 minutes, and had what David Blatt called “the greatest put-back he’s ever seen.”

Mood.

You need to watch this finish on @NBAonTNT.#ALLinCLEhttps://t.co/Jjij9Z11l0

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 27, 2015

33 — Largest scoring quarter of the game, which also happened to be the fourth quarter after most of the starters had departed. The bench bunch showed no mercy, led by Delly, JR, Smokin Joe Harris (who was a perfect 2-2 from the field and the line for seven quick points) and JFJ. Even Perk and Mike Miller dusted off the cobwebs and scored, much to the enjoyment of the Cavs bench and the crowd.

Some of the more embarrassing numbers for the Hawks included:

30 — The second largest margin of victory in a clinching game of a playoff series.

https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/603397906708705280/photo/1

54 — Amount of points the Cavs held the Atlanta starters to, including a series low two points for Al Horford.

32 — Number of threes the Hawks jacked up with desperate abandon, hitting only five.

6 — Number of times now that a number one seed has been swept out of the playoffs (the last time it happened in the ECF was 2002 when the Nets swept the Pistons).

1 — Certificate of participation for the Hawks…

This is cold blooded, signed by Adam Silver & LeBron (via @El_Guapo_Negro, @jemelehill) pic.twitter.com/AThiHSRAvs

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) May 27, 2015

And a final five countdown of Cavs memories in this epic closeout on their way to their second NBA Finals as a team:

5 — The number of Cavaliers you can fit in a celebratory post-game hot tub hip-hop video… https://instagram.com/p/3K7yOUNfBg/?taken-by=teamswish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oshGht-cg64

4 — People who know “there’s no place like home…”

There's no place like home.#StriveForGreatness | #ALLinCLE pic.twitter.com/NTPCUJqiy7

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 27, 2015

3 — Cavs in a selfie at the podium…

2 — Number of shirtless guys from other countries in the Cavs locker room who are going to the NBA Finals…

1 — Awesome Tweet of Kevin Love sitting behind the bench…

This +25 DIFF got us feeling like . . .

(👋 Kevin) pic.twitter.com/9iVmNKB9mu

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 27, 2015

And three Final numbers that are the only ones that still matter:

8 — Days of rest for LBJ, Kyrie and the rest of the nicked up Cavs.

4 — Wins remaining until the Cavs can finally claim a championship.

1 — Amazing, All-In, Together, No Excuses of a TEAM who refuse to quit until the job is done.

LET’S GO CAVS!