NBA’s round 2
Irving helps Cavs pull away from Hawks 104- 93 to take 1- 0 series lead.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
CAVALIERS 104, HAWKS 93
CLEVELAND — LeBron James scored 25 points, Kyrie Irving added 21 and the Cleveland Cavaliers withstood a strong comeback by Atlanta to maintain their chokehold on the Hawks with a 104- 93 victory on Monday night in the opening game of their second- round NBA Eastern Conference series.
James converted a critical three- point play with 2: 09 left for the Cavs, who fell behind in the fourth after leading by 18 points. Cleveland swept Atlanta in last year’s Eastern Conference finals and has won eight consecutive over the Hawks. Cleveland also improved to 9- 0 against Atlanta in the postseason.
“We needed everything,” James said. “We played an OK game. I don’t think we played to our standards. The first game is always kind of a feel- out.”
Dennis Schroder scored a playoff career- high 27 points and rallied the Hawks before they crumbled in the closing minutes. Atlanta’s offense bogged down in crunch time and the Hawks only scored two field goals in the final four minutes.
Paul Millsap added 17
points and 13 rebounds for Atlanta, which got eight points from Jeff Teague.
James’ three- point play, which he punctuated by flexing his biceps, came after he stripped the ball from Schroder and the Cavs kept their possession alive with two offensive rebounds, one by Tristan Thompson, the other by J. R. Smith. Game 2 is Wednesday night. The Cavs didn’t show any rust following an eight- day break after the first round until the third quarter, when their offense slowed and the Hawks got hot. But when it mattered most, the defending conference champions made the big plays, and James led the way.
Kevin Love, who was injured when the teams met in the postseason last year, added 17 points but was 4 of 17 from the floor. Thompson added 14 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end.
Kent Bazemore had 16 points for Atlanta.