The Cavaliers vs Hawks series took a bad turn in Game 1 for Atlanta, as injuries and J.R. Smith took out the one team right off the bat.
The last thing the NBA wanted was a series this close to the NBA Finals being defined by yet another injury — but that’s what happened in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
The game itself is now meaningless, as all that matters is the possible ACL injury that DeMare Carroll suffered in the fourth quarter of a Hawks loss in Game 1. Cleveland is up 1-0 in the series, but things might have broke for the Hawks with whatever happened to Carroll.