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.
CAVALIERS 104, HAWKS 93
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.
THUNDER 98, SPURS 97
SAN ANTONIO — Russell Westbrook had 29 points and 10 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder held on to beat San Antonio on Monday night, evening the NBA Western Conference semifinal series at one game apiece when the Spurs failed to score on a wild sequence in the final seconds.
Kevin Durant added 28 points as the Thunder handed the Spurs just their second home loss of the season, rebounding from a 32-point beating in Game 1.
Oklahoma City’s Dion Waiters appeared to push Manu Ginobili while inbounding to start the final possession, and Danny Green stole the ball from Durant. Patty Mills missed an open three-pointer, LaMarcus Aldridge lost the ball after grabbing the airball and Kawhi Leonard was unable to gather the ball before the buzzer sounded.
Aldridge had 41 points in his second consecutive dominant performance, but the rest of the Spurs did not provide the same assistance they did in San Antonio’s 124-92 victory in Game 1.
Leonard was held to 14 points on 7-for-18 shooting. Ginobili was the only other San Antonio player with 10 points or more, finishing with 11 on 5-for-8 shooting.
Aldridge had 13 points in the final quarter, including two 3-point plays. The All-Star forward drained his second three-pointer of the season to pull San Antonio within 96-94 and then made three free throws after being fouled by Serge Ibaka to make it 98-97, setting up the final sequence.
Sports on 05/03/2016