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The Cavs hit so many threes the Hawks gave themselves the crying Jordan treatment

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May 4, 2016 at 11:04 p.m. EDT
Cavaliers players celebrate their 25th three-pointer of the game from the Cleveland bench. (Ken Blaze/USA Today Sports)
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They say bad things come in threes, and never was that more true than for the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Game 2 of their playoff series against the Cavaliers got out of hand quickly, as LeBron James, J.R. Smith and others buried Atlanta under an avalanche of three-point shots.

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By halftime, Cleveland had made an incredible 18 threes — setting an NBA playoff record — and the score was 74-38. There was little the Hawks’ Twitter account could do but beat everyone else to the punch and give itself the “Crying Jordan” treatment.

The Cavs actually shot better on three-pointers (18-27) than they did on two-point attempts (6-21) in the first two quarters. Smith hit 6 of 10 from long range all by himself.

The unprecedented barrage led to some crazy statistical moments, such as in the tweet below, and had James jumping for joy from the sideline.

With the contest essentially over by halftime, all that was left for the Cavs was to give their starters some rest (no one played as much as 29 minutes) and go for the all-time NBA record, both in playoffs and regular season, for made three-pointers in one game. That came in the fourth quarter — a period marked by one record-seeking heave after another by Cavs players — when Dahntay Jones dropped in Cleveland’s 24th trey of the game.

The Cavs added another three to give them 25 for the game, on 45 attempts, in a 123-98 laugher. The previous record of 23 had been set by the 2012-13 Rockets.

For the Hawks, who fell behind in the conference semifinal series 2-0, the only good news came when the final buzzer mercifully sounded. Although they are heading back to Atlanta, the Hawks might still initially shudder at the realization that they will be playing in a Game … 3.

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