Did Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James redeem himself in Friday night’s victory over the Atlanta Hawks after failing to close the game against the Boston Celtics?
The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Atlanta Hawks 135-130 on Friday night and made an NBA-record 25 threes. This game came right after the Cavs, and LeBron James, failed to close out their previous game against the Boston Celtics.
The game wasn’t close the whole game with the Cavs dominating but at the end the Cavs came close to squandering a game they had in hand.
The Hawks were able to get the game up to a one point game because again instead of the Cavs putting the ball in LeBron James’ hands, they put the ball in Kyrie Irving’s hands and he was ineffective.
Sensing the game slipping, LeBron took control of the ball and dribbled the ball up the court and made the correct play.
They ended up needing every one of those 25 threes as LeBron made the play getting the ball to Korver for the three that helped put the Cavaliers put the streaking Hawks at bay and put the score to 127-123.
When the ball was in LeBron’s hands, other players were moving around and looking to get open because of LeBron’s notorious and superior passing ability.
When Kyrie has the ball at the end of games, he’s basically playing 1 on 5 because everybody is just standing there watching him.
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On the other hand, when LeBron has the ball in his hand at the end of the game he gets the whole team involved and that puts way more pressure on the other team.
The other team has to be more aware of what is going on around them. There are more options when LeBron has the ball in his hands. He also commands a double team because of his ability to drive to the lane and that opens the way to his vision.
LeBron won two NBA Finals series with the Miami Heat and hero-ball was less successful than ball-movement; so he knows ball-movement and team play is what wins games.
When the ball sticks that helps the defense.
The Cavs ball movement was incredible against the Atlanta Hawks. It just seemed like when the game was ending, they got complacent and didn’t make the right plays necessary to win the game.
Kyrie is an amazing player but in order for the Cleveland Cavaliers to win a second consecutive NBA Finals series, they have to make sure they’re the more efficient team and make smarter plays.
Related Story: Kyrie Irving Becoming A Willing Passer Makes Cavs Better
In the Cleveland Cavaliers victory over the Atlanta Hawks did LeBron James redeem himself for his performance against the Boston Celtics?