DOWN AND OUT INA-T-L

Cavaliers dominate Hawks to take a 2-0 series lead,

The Hawks’ dream season has turned into a nightmare.

After a 60-win regular season and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Hawks are in trouble. Big trouble. The Hawks were sound- ly defeated by the Cavaliers 94-82 in Game 2 of the conference finals Friday night at Philips Arena. They trail the series 2-0 with Games 3 and 4 in Cleveland.

Teams up 2-0 in best-of-seven series in the NBA playoffs win 94 percent of the time. Only four teams have come back from such deficits in the conference finals — Baltimore in 1971, Chicago in 1993, Cleveland in 2007 and Okla- homa City in 2012. None of those teams lost the first two at home.

“We know what’s at stake,” Al Horford said before the game. The stakes just got higher. The last team to win a series after losing the first two

games at home was Dallas, which defeated Houston in the first round in 2005.

LeBron James dominated the Hawks with a near triple-double, with a game-high 30 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds. Tristan Thompson had seven points, but 16 rebounds, and Iman Shumpert had 16 points, including four 3-pointers.

Dennis Schroder scored 13 points for the Hawks. Horford, Kyle Korver and Jeff Teague each had 12 points. Paul Millsap finished with just four points on 2-of-8 shooting.

DeMarre Carroll made a remarkable recovery from a left knee sprain suffered in Game 1 and started at small forward, giving the Hawks a needed defensive presence on James. Carroll had a large ice wrap on his team when on the bench. He finished with six points in 36 minutes. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers played without All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving who saw doctors for knee tendinitis.

The Hawks lost Korver to a right ankle sprain in the third quarter, and he was unable to return. Horford also was hobbled after banging his knee in the fourth quarter.

The Cavaliers started the third quarter on a 249 run to take a 20-point lead, 78-58. The Hawks were outscored 30-17 in the decisive period, and the Cavaliers cruised to victory and a comfortable series lead.

The Cavaliers led by as many as 10 points in the second quarter and took a 54-49 lead into halftime. They used an 18-6 run between the first and second quarters to take a 3323 lead. James had 17 first- half points, 13 in the first quarter.

The Hawks got physical in the first quarter — and James was the target. Pero Antic was called for a Flagrant-1 foul for shoving James on a layup attempt. Later in the quarter, Kent Bazemore gave James a shove after a foul call. The Hawks overcame a 2-for10 start from the field, and Horford didn’t have a shot until 16 minutes into the game.

The Hawks surprised fans by wearing throwback uniforms from the 1980s.

CURTIS COMPTON / CCOMPTON@AJC.COM The Cavs’ Tristan Thompson runs away with a steal from Hawks guard Jeff Teague during Friday night’s Game 2.

CURTIS COMPTON / CCOMPTON@AJC.COM Al Horford (center) is helped off the court by Mike Scott and a Hawks trainer after an apparent knee injury. Horford returned briefly before going to the bench for the remainder of the game.

CURTIS COMPTON / CCOMPTON@AJC.COM The looks tell the tale as DeMarre Carroll (from left), Jeff Teague and Al Horford watch the final minutes tick away in Atlanta’s Game 2 defeat.