It just doesn't matter. The opponent doesn't matter. The time of the game doesn't matter to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

What does matter?

Finally being able to compete and advance toward their goal of winning an NBA championship.

To do so, they must clip the wings of the Atlanta Hawks, who beat the Miami Heat 91-78 Sunday in Game 7 of their series. The Hawks will come in battered and bruised as two of their top line players — forwards Al Horford and Marvin Williams — nurse injuries.

During the regular season, the Cavs owned the Hawks, taking 3-of-4 regular-season games, squeaking by them twice and dominating one game. That fact doesn't matter.

"No, it really doesn't, because this is different. It's the playoffs. For us, right now, we have to just take one game at a time," center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said. "Hopefully, they'll be a little tired, but they also have a young team. Young guys bounce back a lot faster. They're athletic; it's going to be a lot of work."

The Hawks-Heat series was a physical affair, but in the world of the NBA, it was an anomaly, because every victory was by double digits.

That doesn't matter to Cavaliers coach Mike Brown.

"The blowouts? It still went seven games," he said. "At the end of the day, we have to know what's going to help us win and that's doing the little things. . . .Atlanta's a good team and we know some of the smaller things we have to do to try to get a win."

The Cavs have been cooped up playing against each other since they sent the Detroit Pistons to a quick exit last week. Will they have the requisite edge to compete from the beginning? They don't believe they lost their edge. In fact, the opposite may be true.

"More, I think now just because guys are tired of playing against each other and now they want to play someone else," Ilgauskas said.

"We've been closed in here for a week. They're just ready to get playing."

Brown agreed.

"I think so, but we won't know until we go out there and play some games," he said.

"The guys are excited to know who they're playing and to get going in a couple of days and we'll see how it goes as time unfolds."

The Cavs don't sound as if they will take the Hawks lightly. They probably shouldn't — given the nature of the games during the regular season.

"It's a brand-new game. It's a brand-new series; it's a brand- new season," LeBron James said.

"No matter what you do to a team during the regular season, they're going to come out and take care of business in the playoffs."

QUICK SHOT

Cavs General Manager Danny Ferry came up just short in the voting for NBA executive of the year.

The Denver Nuggets' Mark Warkentien squeaked by Ferry to win the award, which is chosen by a panel of 30 league executives. He received nine votes to Ferry's seven.