CLEVELAND: J.R. Smith hopped up and down at half court as Kevin Love slapped high-fives on his way off the floor.
The entire Cavaliers’ bench erupted in celebration — and it was only halftime. But their shooting display Wednesday merited all of the applause.
LeBron James scored 27 points and the Cavs set an NBA record with 25 3-pointers in pounding the Atlanta Hawks 123-98 on Wednesday to take a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The best 3-point shooting team in this postseason put on a historic display Wednesday. The Cavs shot 25-of-45 from 3-point range and their 18 3s in the first half also set a record for most in any game — playoff or regular season.
Dahntay Jones’ corner 3-pointer with 2:24 left gave the Cavs the all-time record, surpassing the 2009 Orlando Magic and the 2014 Houston Rockets, who each made 23 3-pointers in a game. Mo Williams added the final 3 on the Cavs’ next possession.
The 3-point assault carried them to a 74-38 halftime lead — the largest in the NBA during a playoff game since 1987. They led by as many as 41 in the third quarter.
Ten different Cavs made 3s, led by Smith’s seven. After he dribbled behind his back to shake Kyle Korver and make an off-balance 3-pointer in the second quarter to put the Cavs ahead 65-35, Smith did a strut/skip to the other end of the floor without breaking stride.
The Cavs never lost their rhythm all night.
Kyrie Irving scored 19 points and Love had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Smith scored 23 points while shooting 7-of-13 from 3. The Cavs made seven consecutive 3-point attempts in the first quarter and consistently had more 3-point baskets than the Hawks had field goals until the fourth quarter. It has been the story of their postseason. The Cavs began the night averaging an NBA-best 14.4 3-pointers. They’re up over 15 per game now.
“With LeBron being aggressive and driving the ball to the basket and Kyrie getting to the basket, teams are trying to shut the driving lanes off,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “That makes for guys kicking it out. We’ve got to make open shots. Kyrie, LeBron, Kevin do a good job sharing the basketball and we’ve just got to be able to knock shots down if teams play us that way.”
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said the Cavs’ 3-point shooting was a huge concern after they made 15 3-pointers in their Game 1 victory. This time they made their 15th 3-pointer in the second quarter.
The game got so out of hand in the second quarter the Hawks’ official Twitter account couldn’t help but make light of the situation.
“If you take away their 3’s we’re right in this…” the Hawks tweeted. It was re-tweeted more than 7,000 times.
Paul Millsap had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks. Jeff Teague scored 14 points and Al Horford had 10. Starters for both sides sat out the fourth quarter.
The Cavs have won their last nine games against the Hawks and all 10 postseason games between the two teams. The series shifts to Atlanta for Game 3 on Friday.
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.