ATLANTA — The Cleveland Cavaliers were actually being challenged.
Finally, LeBron James had seen enough.
James scored 47 points in his best game yet of these playoffs, leading the Cavaliers to the brink of their second straight postseason sweep with a 97-82 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night.
“He took the ball, put it in his hands and said he was going to score for us, so I told him, ‘OK,’” Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. “I just told everybody else, ‘Let’s defend.’”
Back home after two blowout losses in Cleveland, the Hawks put up their best fight of the series. It didn’t matter, not against King James. They now find themselves just one defeat away from calling it a season, the Cavaliers pushing out to another 3-0 lead after breezing past Detroit in the opening round.
Cleveland kept up its dominating run through the playoffs, setting an NBA record with its seventh straight double-figure win to eclipse the mark set by the 2004 Indiana Pacers. The only solace for the Hawks: They stopped Cleveland’s streak of 20-point playoff wins at three.
The Hawks were only down 47-46 at the halftime, and they surged back into their first second-half lead of the series with a 13-0 run in the third quarter. But Zaza Pachulia got ejected for arguing a foul call — acting as though he might attack the officials — and Atlanta faded away down the stretch.
James eclipsed his previous high in these playoffs of 38 points vs. the Pistons, and finished just one off his best playoff performance ever, a 48-point night against Detroit while leading Cleveland to its first trip ever to the NBA finals.
They appear to be on the way again, especially with the league’s MVP leading the way.
James hit a running 13-footer to send the Cavaliers to the final period with a 72-65 lead. If the Hawks had any thoughts of a comeback, James quickly erased them.
He hit a jumper near the courtside seat and slapped his hands in delight with just over 8 minutes remaining. On Cleveland’s next possession, James stood out near the half-court line, barking instructions at his teammates. Delonte West and Zydrunas Ilgauskas both popped out to set picks, and James weaved his way through the Atlanta defense before pulling up to launch a floater just off the foul lane.
Nothing but net.
James repeated the same drill from the opposite side, only this time he cut along the baseline, drawing virtually every Atlanta player his way, before dumping off to a wide-open Ilgauskas under the basket. The Hawks had no choice but to hack the big man as he went up to shoot, stopping the layup but sending him to the foul line.
“LeBron was just out of his mind tonight,” Atlanta’s Josh Smith said.
Indeed, while James was a virtual one-man show, he kept his teammates involved by dishing out eight assists. If that wasn’t enough, he led Cleveland to a dominant performance on the boards, 46-23, with a game-high 12 rebounds.
Finally, with 44 seconds remaining, James’ work was done. He went off to a big ovation from the smattering of Cleveland fans who hung around to chant, “MVP! MVP! MVP!”
James has been incredibly efficient in this series, playing 108 minutes and scoring 108 points.
Atlanta was hardly in position to challenge the Cavaliers, who had the league’s best record during the regular season (66-16). When factoring in that three starters — Joe Johnson, Al Horford and Marvin Williams — were hurting, there seemed little chance of Atlanta challenging the Cavaliers.
But they did for nearly three quarters. Though Pachulia’s ejection seemed to take any life out of the raucous crowd — and the home team. The Hawks were outscored 31-17 after the emotional Georgian was tossed.
“I thought it was an offensive foul,” Pachulia said. “Maybe I overreacted.”
Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.
James was 15 of 25 from the field, went 5 of 10 outside the 3-point arc (even banking in one), and wound up making more free throws — 12 of 16 — than the entire Hawks’ team attempted (7 of 11).
“He’s not the MVP for nothing,” Pachulia said. “He’s the best player in the league. He knows when to push the gas. That’s what he did.”
Johnson, who didn’t decide until game time that he was healthy enough to play, led the Hawks with 21 points. Smith added 18 and Flip Murray 17.
Ilgauskas scored 14, West had 12 and Mo Williams 11 for the Cavaliers.
Notes: Horford played more than 35 minutes on his gimpy ankle but wasn’t much of a factor. He had six points and four rebounds. Williams played only 13½ minutes and scored four points. … There were plenty of celebrities in the sellout crowd of 20-143, including rappers T.I., Nelly and Young Jeezy, as well as producer Jermaine Dupree.
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