At long last, the King has led his people back to the Promised Land. In one of the more impressive performances of the playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers dispatched the top seed Atlanta Hawks in four games. Now LeBron James and the Cavs head back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2007 with their sights set on finally bringing a championship to the city of Cleveland. Before we move onto the NBA Finals, let’s take a look at how the East was won.

The Other Guys

Above all, this series was won because of the supporting cast on the Cavaliers. Atlanta boasted three all-star starters in this series, but it was the Cavs’ role players that absolutely dominated. J.R. Smith couldn’t miss for long stretches, and provided floor spacing they desperately needed. Iman Shumpert played lockdown defense and hit timely shots as well, while Matthew Dellavedova stepped in for the banged up Kyrie Irving and held his own against one of the best point guards in the league in Jeff Teague.

Meanwhile, the frontcourt was dominant as well. Tristan Thompson proved why he is one of the most promising young bigs in the league by grabbing basically every loose ball in sight. His offensive rebounding took advantage of Atlanta’s biggest weakness. Timofey Mozgov held his own against Al Horford, and Cleveland neutralized the Hawks’ biggest strength: their balanced scoring attack.

Cold-Lanta

The Hawks advanced through the playoffs on the back of a multi-pronged offense and a stifling defense that generated turnovers. Against Cleveland, however, Atlanta could never get going, and it wasn’t exactly due to lockdown defense from the Cavs. The Hawks couldn’t seem to hit any threes, a staple of their offense all year. Kyle Korver was ice cold, and was ultimately knocked out of the series by a Dellavedova lunge into his ankle. Whether the play was dirty or not, it was a mighty blow to the Hawks, and no one seemed to step up.

None of the Hawks could get going with or without Korver. An injury in game one to DeMarre Carroll didn’t help, and while he was able to return, he was clearly not the same. Cleveland’s defense certainly did its part in holding down the high-flying Hawks, but Atlanta did themselves no favors. It resulted in a four game sweep, culminated in a beat down for the ages on Tuesday night.

The King’s Court

Finally, it would be absurd to forget just how dominant LeBron James was this series, and has been all throughout the playoffs. In the four game sweep, LeBron averaged just under a triple-double, and imposed his will on the game at his own pace to lead his team to victory. Game three’s performance was among his gutsiest ever, as he dropped a monster triple-double with 37 points, 18 rebounds, and 13 assists as he fought off cramps and a poor shooting night to put a chokehold on the series.

LeBron is at his best when he is distributing to teammates and picking his spots to attack. He has a tremendous sense of what his team needs, and he performed that well this series to move on to the finals. Now we get to see the matchup many anticipated, as the King and the Cavaliers take on the Splash Brothers and the Warriors. If this LeBron shows up again, then we are all in for another treat.