Cavs drop Hawks in Game 1

ATLANTA -- The Cleveland Cavaliers took home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference Finals from the Atlanta Hawkswith a 97-89 victory over the Hawks in Game 1 on Wednesday.

The Cavaliers' victory sets the tone for the series that they'll be able to shoot with Atlanta and bully them inside on the boards.

Here's what we take away from Cleveland's Game 1 victory:

1. KYRIE DIDN'T LOOK HEALTHY BUT LEBRON JAMES AND TRISTAN THOMPSON PICKED HIM UP

It's not often you see Kyrie Irving on the basketball court and not looking to put everybody into his own YouTube mixtape. He has one of the filthiest handles in the NBA and he uses it a few dozen times throughout a game to embarrass the defender in front of him and get to the hoop, where he's a master of finding the room around the hoop and the spin off the glass to give us highlights on top of highlights. But he's dealing with a foot injury and knee tendinitis. While he says he's healthy enough and feels great, his play on the floor screamed otherwise.

He rarely attacked the basket and even when he did attack off the dribble, he didn't get deep into the paint because he just wasn't quick enough. The Cavs need him, but they were able to maintain without him being his All-Star self. LeBron James was a big part of that, handling the playmaking role that he so often fills. James, who had a game-high 31 points, was the one getting into the lane and making things happen. And when he couldn't get a shot to fall or a teammate to get him an assist, Tristan Thompson was there to clean up the mess.

The concern the Hawks had coming in about battling with the Cavs on the offensive glass was real. They know their defense is designed to get a lot of stops, even against this Cavs' attack. But if you can't end the possessions with rebounds, they never end. And with Thompson on the floor, he kept so many possessions going with his tireless work on the boards as he seemed to wear Paul Millsap out.

2. HAWKS NEED MUCH MORE OUT OF PAUL MILLSAP AND NOW THEIR BENCH

The potentially devastating injury to DeMarre Carroll was a rough blow to the Hawks, and now we're going to see just how much their bench can step up and help -- maybe the rest of the series. Kent Bazemore is expected to get the majority of the minutes in Carroll's place if DeMarre can't play in the rest of the series. And while Bazemore had a good run in Game 1, they need the entire reserve unit to step up and give much more than we saw in the first game of this series.

Dennis Schröder had some aggressive moments early on, but he was mostly a disaster on offense. He took bad shot after bad shot, and just never got the Hawks into their sets. Pero Antic was both awful on defense and a non-factor offensively. You couldn't even count on him setting good screens. Mike Muscala wasn't much of a match on either end of the floor in his few minutes of run.

It wasn't just the bench that was bad for the Hawks. One of their four All-Stars, Paul Millsap, couldn't keep Tristan Thompson off the boards, couldn't really match up with LeBron James when the Cavs went small, and he wasn't an impact player on offense either. He managed to get to the free-throw line 10 times (making seven), which saved his scoring total from being embarrassing. He shot just 3-of-11 from the field, missed three 3-pointers, and finished with 13 points. He has to be the guy who keeps putting pressure on the Cavs' defense to get Thompson and even Timofey Mozgov into foul trouble. Otherwise, the good work Jeff Teague did and Al Horford managed to accomplish go for naught.

3. J.R. SMITH OUTSHOT THE HAWKS FROM 3-POINT RANGE

The Hawks were the second best 3-point shooting team in the NBA, making 38 percent of their shots from downtown. Only the Golden State Warriors shot a more accurate long ball this season. That 3-point shooting prowess didn't carry into Game 1 of this series, as they just couldn't find the bottom of the net much at all when they shot from distance. It isn't the only part of their offense by any means, but their outside threats set up everything else they like to do. When you shoot this poorly, it's one thing.

When J.R. Smith outshoots you as a team, it's simply too much to overcome. Smith was absurdly hot, hitting step-back jumpers from downtown, pull-up 3-point attempts and whatever else his shooting conscience could cook up. It felt like every shot he put up was going to fall. Smith, who had 28 points, doubled the Hawks' outside shooting just by himself, making 8-of-12 from downtown while the Hawks made just 4-of-23. You can't have a breakdown in both your outside shooting and your ability to defend the 3.

The problem for Atlanta was it wasn't even defending it all that badly. Smith was just a pipeline for outside shooting accuracy.

ATLANTA HAWKS VS. CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

Cleveland leads series 1-0