NBA Playoff Schedule 2016: Game Times, TV and Livestream Coverage for Friday
Two wildly different Game 2 showdowns forebode testy NBA playoff action Friday night.
On Monday, the Oklahoma City Thunder handed the San Antonio Spurs their second home defeat this year to even the series at 1-1. Instead of celebrating the upset, all the attention veered to the game's messy final sequence, which featured fan interference and a long list of missed calls.
The Cleveland Cavaliers didn't need any late drama Wednesday night, instead dismantling the Atlanta Hawks with an NBA-record 25 three-pointers. After the 123-98 loss, Paul Millsap expressed his displeasure at Cleveland continuing to heave threes during a blowout, per Cleveland.com's Chris Haynes.
"If that's how you want to approach it, that's how you approach it," Millsap said. "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?"
Both matchups will shift to new venues for Game 3, giving the Thunder an opportunity to pull ahead and the Hawks a fighting chance of survival. Let's look ahead to both bouts on Friday night's slate:
| 7 p.m. | Cleveland Cavaliers at Atlanta Hawks | CLE 2-0 | ESPN | WatchESPN |
| 9:30 p.m. | San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder | 1-1 | ESPN | WatchESPN |
Cleveland Cavaliers at Atlanta Hawks
Just seeing the number in "Game 3" may give the Hawks uncomfortable flashbacks. The Cavs steamrolled them from behind the arc, draining three-pointers from all over the court Wednesday.
NBA.com/Stats illustrated the heavily green shot chart:
Even LeBron James, who described Game 1's 11-point victory as an "OK game," per ESPN.com's Ohm Youngmisuk, marveled over his team's record-setting performance in Game 2, per ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin:
"Tonight was a special night for our organization. For all those that played in the game, the fans, to be able to set an all-time record in NBA history. This league has seen so many great teams, so many great players, so many great shooters and things of that nature. For us, today to be able to set an all-time record, it's special. It's truly special.
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Cleveland also opened the series on fire from downtown, sinking 15 of its 31 long-range attempts in Game 1. As ESPN Stats & Info noted, the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed has ridden red-hot shooting to a perfect postseason start:
It's not only long-range shooting that's leading the Cavs to victory. Tristan Thompson has continued to bully Atlanta on the glass, snagging 21 rebounds in 59 minutes. Al Horford has recorded only 10 points in each game, and the Hawks haven't cracked triple digits.
As one side utilizes the three-point line, the other can't get one of the game's most prolific shooters an open look. Through two games, Kyle Korver has scored 10 combined points on eight field-goal attempts, three of which have come from deep.
J.R. Smith, meanwhile, has made 11 threes in the series and 28 in the postseason. Even if Korver gets going, it won't make a difference unless his opposition cools down, as he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Chris Vivlamore:
If Cleveland keeps raining down buckets in Atlanta, the discussion will turn from this series to the Cavaliers' chances of upending the Western Conference champion.
San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder are where they want to be after splitting road games with a team that had tallied 38 straight home victories before falling to the Golden State Warriors at AT&T Center in April. Tough loss aside, San Antonio can at least hang its hat on one major bright spot.
As the rest of San Antonio's offense faltered, LaMarcus Aldridge dominated again in a losing effort, topping Game 1's 38 points with 41 on Monday. The high-profile offseason addition has recorded 22.8 points per game in the postseason on a 62.6 field-goal percentage.
Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post highlighted Aldridge's dominance on one particular play:
The big man has creamed the Thunder down low, but Oklahoma City still evened the score behind strong outings from Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. Dion Waiters, who commenced Game 2's wacky closing sequence by pushing Manu Ginobili from out of bounds, shrugged off Aldridge's individual success, per ESPN.com's Royce Young.
"One man can't beat you," Waiters said Wednesday. "So we're fine with that. If they want to continue to get out of their offense and throw the ball down there to him, we're fine with that. One guy can't beat us, no matter how much he scores."
That mindset is reasonable when the Spurs shoot 6-of-23 from three-point range, as they did Monday night. During the regular season, however, only the Warriors registered a higher three-point conversion rate than the Spurs' 37.5 percent.
Waiters is right in hoping San Antonio fazes out Kawhi Leonard and Co. by abandoning its superb ball movement. He's also wrong in identifying Adridge's interior dominance as a detriment, as it helped Leonard score 25 points and Danny Green drain five threes to open the series.
Oklahoma City forced everyone who declared the series over after Game 1 to backtrack. In a year littered with lopsided affairs, this battle could reinvigorate the playoffs.
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