Letdown: LeBron, Cavs stunned by Hawks
CLEVELAND >> As the jawdropping loss began to sink in, LeBron James sat on the floor away from his teammates, alone in his thoughts.
The playoffs are just days away, and the NBA champions are lost again.
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 15 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter as the Atlanta Hawks, despite resting center Dwight Howard and sitting three other key starters, stunned James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-100 on Friday night.
Coming off a win over Boston on Thursday night, the Hawks outworked and outgunned the Cavs, who blew a chance to move closer to securing the top seed in the Eastern Conference with the kind of flat, uninspired performance that has become the norm in a disjointed season.
“The energy level was just real bad,” a disillusioned James said afterward. “I don’t know why.”
James struggled to explain what went wrong just two days after the Cavs had played one of their best games this season, blowing the Celtics out in Boston. That win seemed to signal a change, an acknowledgment that the postseason was quickly approaching and it was time to get serious. And now, this. “You expect for us to want to get better and we were doing that and we took a couple steps back tonight,” James said.
Mike Dunleavy added 20 for Atlanta and the veteran got a little revenge against the Cavs, who tossed him in as part of a trade for Kyle Korver in February. The Hawks recorded 39 assists and moved a game ahead of Milwaukee for fifth place in the East. RAPTORS 96, HEAT 94 >> DeMar DeRozan scored 38 points and Toronto beat Miami in the Raptors’ final home game of the regular season.
DeRozan broke Vince Carter’s franchise record with his 31st 30-point game of the season, shooting 14 of 32 from the floor. Carter set the mark in 2000-01. GRIZZLIES 101, KNICKS 88 >> Mike Conley scored 31 points and Memphis warpped up the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference with a victory over short-handed New York. PISTONS 114, ROCKETS 109 >> Stanley Johnson hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 32.4 seconds left and added two free throws to lift Detroit past Houston. NUGGETS 122, PELICANS 106 >> Rookie Jamal Murray scored a career-high 30 points, including several high-soaring dunks, and Denver beat New Orleans to keep its postseason hopes alive. SPURS 109, MAVERICKS 89>> Bryn Forbes scored a career-high 27 points with San Antonio resting most of its starters, and the Spurs ran past Dallas after the Mavericks pulled most of their key veterans in the second half. JAZZ 120, TIMBERWOLVES 113>> Gordon Hayward scored a career-high 39 points and Utah overcame an 11-point deficit to beat Minnesota.
Hayward and Joe Johnson powered a 40-point third quarter in which the Jazz came from behind and took the lead for good with a 16-7 run.