First things first, I think you have to tip your hat to the Cavs. They are an excellent basketball team, and they make a lot of teams look bad at Quicken Loans Arena. So I don't equate losing by 27 here to losing by a similar margin in Miami. That's not to say that there is any moral victory in tonight's 99-72 loss, but there is a difference.

So what went wrong? How did Cleveland turn a 5-point halftime spread into a runaway victory? In my mind, it was the little things that did the Hawks in tonight, and in a way that gives me hope for this series. 17 turnovers? That's something the Hawks can correct going forward. Al Horford said it in the locker room in postgame, and I agree - too many of the Hawks giveaways were unforced tonight, and the Cavs made them pay for it to the tune of 23 points.

15 offensive rebounds for Cleveland? That's definitely something the team has to work on. You're not going to beat many NBA teams giving them that many second opportunities, let alone a team that won 66 games in the regular season. But again, something the Hawks can work on.

Lastly, the Hawks shot 50% (9-18) from the free throw line, and that needs to improve as well. Fortunately for Atlanta, these are all areas they can work towards improving as the series moves to Game 2.

I said it in pregame, and at the risk of overstating it, the Cavs only lost at home twice all season. To beat them there, the Hawks don't have to play perfect basketball, but they can't afford to give them a helping hand. Tighten up on the mental mistakes and Game 1 is much, much closer, and then who knows.

One thing is for sure - with Marvin Williams and Al Horford still hurting, the Hawks have got to get big offensive outputs from guys like Flip Murray and Mo Evans to take the pressure off Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby. Cleveland made it awfully tough on the Hawks in the second half, and we can't rely on hitting a ton of 3-pointers to keep us in ballgames. Sure it worked for Miami a couple times in the first round, but it's not a good long-term strategy.

It's only one loss though, and there is no reason to get too emotional yet. Let's put this one behind us, and start getting ready for Game 2 on Thursday.