Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt got the best birthday present possible Friday night: a dominating 94-82 win over the Atlanta Hawks. With the road victory, the Cavs now own a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.LeBron James was one rebound short of a triple-double. He posted 30 points, nine boards and 11 assists. The most important statistic might be the fact that his teams are unbeaten when taking the first two games in a playoff series, per NBA on ESPN:Tristan Thompson's work on the glass also played a key role in the Cavs' performance. He finished with 16 rebounds, including five on the offensive end. The Hawks as a team had seven offensive rebounds.Al Horford was one of three different Hawks players to score 12 points, while Dennis Schroder led Atlanta with 13 points.The Hawks' three-point shooting let them down in a big way, with the team shooting 6-of-26 from behind the arc.Entering Game 2, player health was by far the biggest storyline.When DeMarre Carroll went down in Game 1, the initial thought from many fans and experts was that he had suffered a major knee injury that would rule him out for the remainder of the postseason.USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt eventually reported the results of an MRI showed no structural damage in Carroll's left knee, which was great news for Atlanta.Then came the biggest surprise: Carroll starting Game 2. Although the 28-year-old was gutting through the injury, ESPN.com's Kevin Arnovitz felt that he was still far from 100 percent:Still, having Carroll at 75 to 80 percent guarding James was a better option for the Hawks than using almost anybody else to shadow LeBron.The Cavaliers, meanwhile, didn't quite have as much luck with one of their injured stars. Kyrie Irving has been hobbled for the past couple of weeks. So far, the All-Star point guard has fought through it to somewhat mixed results.Cleveland's defense has performed much better without Irving on the floor in the playoffs, per ESPN Stats & Info:On Friday, the Cavs ruled their starting point guard out altogether for Game 2, per ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin:Blatt commented on the situation, per NBA on ESPN:Despite Cleveland missing Irving and obviously Kevin Love, it was the better offensive team in the first half. No one player made up the difference with regard to Irving's scoring. Instead, the Cavaliers got a little bit of production from a handful of players, including Timofey Mozgov, Iman Shumpert, James Jones and Shawn Marion, who combined for 25 points.LeBron led the way with 17 points, four rebounds and four assists. James got a slight shove from Kent Bazemore in the first quarter, which likely only spurred him on that much more.More impressive than his scoring output was his ability to find his teammates for open jumpers, such as this assist on a Shumpert three-pointer, via the NBA:As a team, the Cavs shot an impressive 19-of-36 from the field, including 7-of-11 from downtown.The Hawks were slightly worse at 20-of-41 overall and 4-of-11 from three. As a result, Atlanta was looking at the wrong end of a 54-49 halftime score.Somewhat surprising from the first half was Horford attempting just three shots. He made all three, scoring seven points through the first two quarters. Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick felt that Horford should've done more to create his own offense:Atlanta's best chance to win this game was in the first half because the second belonged to LeBron.Nobody questions James' greatness anymore, but it still doesn't make his one-man wrecking crew act any less fun to watch. He fully answered the call with Irving out and put his Cleveland teammates on his back. Whether it be scoring, creating or defending, LeBron was a colossus on both ends of the floor.ESPN.com's J.A. Adande evoked the name Magic Johnson to describe what James was doing:Indeed, the biggest question surrounding the Hawks' NBA title chances was whether they needed a superstaralbeit not necessarily one as good as LeBron. Atlanta is a great collection of talent, but it lacks the kind of singular talent who can pick up his team by the scruff of the neck in tough situations.It would be reductive to say that the difference between the Cavaliers and the Hawks on Friday was that Cleveland had LeBron. But there's undoubtedly a lot of truth to that viewpoint.Atlanta wasn't helped by the fact that its key players were struggling mightily offensively, none more so than Paul Millsap. NBA analyst Nate Duncan feels Millsap's form has steadily dipped over the course of the regular season:The Cavaliers outscored the Hawks 30-17 in the third quarter to take an 84-66 lead. And any chance of a comeback appeared dead in the water after Atlanta announced Kyle Korver was doubtful to return in the fourth after suffering a right ankle sprain.Korver's three-point shooting might have helped the Hawks get back into the game. Instead, they were unable to mount much of an offensive run in the final frame.CBS Sports' Matt Moore thinks Atlanta is having a 2013-14 Indiana Pacers-like fall from grace in the postseason:Although the Cavaliers are only up 2-0 in the series, it's hard not to think that the Hawks are completely done in the conference finals. They have to win four of the next five games, two of which will have to come in Cleveland.Plus, it seems rather concerning that Atlanta can't beat a Cavs team that is missing two-thirds of its Big Three.Don't count out the East's top seed completely, but Cleveland is firmly in the driver's seat.
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