Cavs continue to have their fun

If you are a Cavaliers fan, did you dare to dream about a season like this? A season in which your team no longer has home games, but parties and celebrations? A season where the millionaires on the bench (not sitting, because they usually stand) are having as much fun as the fans in the cheap seats? A season where your team is in the middle of the second round and is 4-0 at home in the playoffs, 39-2 in the regular season? And only one of those losses was with LeBron James on the court?

Iknow, I’m gushing. But this is a season where James threw in a 40-foot jumper - a real jumper, not a heave - at the end of the first half. It’s a season where James drove through the entire Hawks team at the end of the first quarter and executed a two-handed, reverse slam as if he were in a dunking contest. It’s a season where the fans were chanting “WALL-EEE, WALL-EEE” when Wally Szczerbiak came off the bench and delivered solid play.

It’s a season where the Cavs have won home games by 18, 12, 21, and 20 points. It’s a season where the Cavs won home games by an average of 14.3 points. It’s a season where the Cavs don’t just beat teams at home, they demoralize them. It’s a season where the Cavs have been so in control of games, they have not needed James to be on the court seven times in the fourth quarter. It’s a season where fans have fallen in love with the back court of Delonte West and Mo Williams, and their jerseys sell incredibly well. It’s where they love it when Ben Wallace scores and the Big Ben Bell gongs.

The comparison that I can make is when Michael Jordan’s Bulls played at that old, dark Chicago Stadium - and most teams were beat before the opening tap. Or if the game happened to be close, the visitor feared the last few minutes of the fourth quarter because the Bulls had Jordan - and they did not. In this case, the Cavs have an MVP in James; opposing teams do not. This is an incredible basketball atmosphere, a huge advantage as the playoffs at some point are destined to be more demanding than they have been so far.

We’ll never know if Atlanta’s Al Horford or Marvin Williams would have played if this were Game 7 . . . or even Game 6 in Atlanta. Is it possible the Cavs have become such a dominating team at home with James that Hawks coach Mike Woodson decided to let two of his better players rest their injuries - hoping to regroup at home? The theory would be that neither player is close to 100 percent physically, and two more days of rest will help them recover faster than if they played Thursday in Game 2. It all would be aimed at the Hawks being as strong and deep as possible for Game 3.

With Horford (sprained an kle) and Williams (sprained wrist) out, the Hawks were without a combined 25.4 points and 15.6 rebounds that they averaged in the regular season. One of the advantages of the Cavs knocking out the Pistons in four straight games is they were rested and healthy for this series, while the Hawks paid a physical price in terms of injuries and fatigue as they needed seven games to take out Miami. So the lesson for the Cavs is obvious: Get the job done early.

The defensive approach of both teams was so different early in the game. When Joe Johnson got the ball for the Hawks, the Cavs double-teamed hard. Delonte West opened on the Hawks’ leading scorer, but he got help - quickly. It usually was from a big man, either Zydrunas Ilgauskas or Anderson Varejao. So Johnson faced perhaps the Cavs’ quickest guard in West, and lots of long arms from a Cavs’ big man. Johnson usually made the obvious pass out of the double team, and seldom seemed to cut to the basket or move anywhere to get the ball back for an open shot.

Hard to believe because Joe Johnson is such a terrific scorer. In the first two games, West has outscored Johnson, 27-21. Johnson is 10-of-25 from the field; West is 10-of-21. Johnson is now dealing with an ankle injury, so who knows what he’ll do in Game 3.

When James sat out to start the second quarter, the Cavs outscored the Hawks, 12-5. West had six points, Mo Williams had four. In Game 1, it was 11-4 in favor of the Cavs when James rested in the second quarter. That makes it 23-9 with no James in the first half. West had 11 of those 23 points. The Cavs exploited Mike Bibby, who is slow on defense. No matter what guard he attempts to defend, the Cavs attack him.

Ben Wallace has been moving exceptionally well coming off the bench in the first two games of the series. It appears those shock treatments he took during the break between the first and second rounds worked.