Kyrie Irving redeems himself in Cavs win over Hawks

It took longer than expected but the Cleveland Cavaliers finally locked up the number one seed in the Eastern Conference on Monday Night with a dominant 109-94 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

At last, the Cavs can breath a sigh of relief.

No longer do they need to worry about how close the Toronto Raptors are in the standings or that they hold the tiebreaker. All of that is now irrelevant, as the Cavaliers officially secured home court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs with a disposing job of Atlanta at the Quicken Loans Arena on Monday Night.

Despite the Hawks getting out to a 10-0 lead, things quickly evened up before the Cavs pulled away in the second half. A 39-point third quarter gave Cleveland all the room they needed to rest LeBron James for the entire final quarter.

Speaking of James, he was tremendous. Playing 22 of a possible 24 minutes in the first half, it was clear James wanted this game maybe a bit more than usual. He would end up playing 32 minutes, scoring 34 points on 13-of-16 from the field, while contributing six rebounds and six assists.

Kyrie Irving scored a game high 35 points while shooting exactly 50 percent from the field, redeeming himself from a poor showing in the previous game against the Chicago Bulls. Kevin Love and Matthew Dellavedova both scored 10 points.

For Atlanta, Kent Bazemore was the leading scorer with 23, while Jeff Teague (21) and Al Horford (20) both had efficient outings.

Here are three things we learned from the Cavs win.

Kyrie’s redemption

As aforementioned, Irving was hard on himself after the Cavs loss to the Bulls back on Saturday Night. Irving had a horror final quarter, filled with turnovers and missed shots, allowing Chicago to get back in the game and grab the momentum they needed to get the win.

Irving took it upon himself to change things against the Hawks and what we saw was his best game in quite a while.

“It was just more or less putting a full, complete game together,” Irving said when asked about his performance against Atlanta, via cavs.com. “Being aggressive on both ends of the floor. Trying to contain Teague, but also being aggressive. It was a real important game against a great Hawks team. Great bounce back win.”

What Irving did against Atlanta is what the Cavaliers need him to do in the playoffs. While there were still a couple of instances where he over dribbled himself into trouble, Irving needs to stay aggressive and play with that attacking mindset. It’s when he plays with that edge that makes Cleveland even tougher to beat.

Irving was attacking the basket and finally found some consistency and rhythm with his jump shot against the Hawks. This included from beyond the three-point arc, where Irving shot 4-of-8 on the evening.

While he got his share of points, Irving didn’t bog down the offense against the Hawks. The ball kept swinging and the Cavs played with pace and in a good flow throughout the night. Irving needs to let the game come to him, and not the other way around. Everyone knows how talented he is as a scorer, so he doesn’t need to force things. When he is playing with patience and within the offense, the shots come a lot easier and Irving becomes more dangerous.

When the fourth quarter rolled around, Irving quickly got the memories of Chicago out of his mind, as he scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field. This allowed Cleveland to fend off any Atlanta run and it also gave the Cavs the luxury to sit James for the final 12 minutes.

Irving starts final quarters with the bench unit, so he needs to be that scorer everyone knows he is. When he doesn’t score or control the offense with James and Love sitting, it is a recipe for disaster on the offensive end. When he plays like he did against the Hawks though, Cleveland stays afloat without some of its captains.

Playoff LeBron

James has officially flipped the switch.

“It’s a mind switch, a mind switch,” James said, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “I’ve been going to the gym even more, dialed in more on what needs to be done and what needs to be better. I’ve been in this league a long time and I know what I need to do for my game to be even more sharp, so I’m glad I was able to deliver and not just talk about it, be able to deliver for my teammates because that’s what means more to me than anything.”

In the month of April, James has simply been remarkable, averaging 28.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 7.8 assists, while shooting 65.6 percent from the field, 56.3 percent from the three-point line and 89.5 percent from the free-throw line.

These numbers are simply out of this world. Sure, we have almost become accustomed to James averaging something silly like 28-8-8 but it’s the shooting percentages that really stand out here.

In five games this month, James’ shooting splits have been 12-of-26, 14-of-22, 7-of-9, 13-of-17 and 13-of-16. Unstoppable.

Moreover, it is where James is scoring those points. While he has hit 7-of-9 three-point attempts over his last two outings, James is getting closer and closer to the rim, where he is automatic.

Out of his 90 shot attempts in April, James has taken 47 of them from less than five feet. That’s 52.2 percent of his shot attempts people. Plus, James is connecting on 80.9 percent of those shots from less than five feet, so yeah, that unstoppable thing rings true.

More from King James Gospel

We all know James is a different animal come playoff time, but this season he has gone into playoff mode early and it has produced amazing results. Has he got another gear? You would be foolish to doubt him.

Appreciate this

The Cavs have had lots of drama this season and haven’t always played hard. They have been frustrating and hard to figure out.

Despite all of this though, the Eastern Conference runs through Cleveland and thus, through the Cavaliers.

James is playing out of his mind. Irving has already shown, albeit a small sample size, he is ready to dominant under playoff lights. Love is playing his best ball in a Cavalier uniform.

Yes, it hasn’t always been sunshine and lollypops but this team is the best chance Cleveland has of winning a championship. Let’s appreciate that for a second people and just enjoy the next two moths of playoff basketball.

Last season’s Cavalier playoff run was unforgettable and this one is shaping up to be even better.

Don’t take it for granted.