Hawks halt Cavs in battle of Eastern powers
ATLANTA: In a preview of what might be to come in the playoffs, Atlanta beat Cleveland 106-97 on Friday, as the NBA Eastern Conference leader denied the Cavaliers a chance to go top of the Central Division.
The victory kept the Hawks atop the overall standings, ahead of West leader Golden State, which kept up the pursuit with a victory over Dallas.
Cleveland would have gone top of the Central had it won, but remains half a game behind Chicago, which lost at Indiana.
Atlanta’s Al Horford scored 19 points and Kyle Korver hit two big 3-pointers in the fourth quarter after struggling much of the night, helping the Hawks to an important victory.
LeBron James and the Cavaliers entered the season as the overwhelming favorite in the East, but the Hawks are running away in the standings, having won six straight games.
Clearly inspired on night when Hall of Famer and former Hawks star Dominique Wilkins was honored by the team, Atlanta got plenty of balance and showed again it might be capable of doing something that never happened during No. 21’s brilliant career — win a championship. James was held to 18 points on 5-of-13 shooting. Golden State’s Stephen Curry was in relatively subdued mode, with 22 points and seven assists, as he led the Warriors to a 104-89 victory over Dallas.
Earlier this year, Curry scored a season-high 51 points against the Mavericks. This time he scored 16 points in the first half when the Warriors began to pull away and finished with five of his team’s 11 3-pointers.
Klay Thompson scored 16 points for the Warriors, who remained 4-1/2 games clear atop the West.
Rajon Rondo had 14 points and six assists for Dallas.
Indiana continued its late surge toward playoff contention by winning 98-84 at home against Chicago.
Solomon Hill scored 16 points and Ian Mahinmi had a season-high 14 points for the Pacers, whose four successive wins have moved them into a share of eighth in the weak East. Pau Gasol led Chicago with 18 points. Houston’s James Harden had 38 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists for his third triple-double this season, powering the Rockets to a 103-93 win against Detroit. Harden has reached 30 points 27 times this season. Greg Monroe had 19 points for the Pistons, who have lost five in a row.
Charlotte beat Toronto 103-94 in a game that had six technical fouls.
Al Jefferson had 23 points and 13 rebounds and Mo Williams added 23 points for the Hornets, who have four in a row.
DeMar DeRozan had 30 points on 14-of-26 shooting for the Raptors, who have lost seven of eight.
Washington came perilously close to blowing a 35-point lead but hung on to edge Miami 99-97.