The key for the team will be LeBron James exploiting whoever he is matched up with, as the Hawks are a relatively smaller team; “King James” has averaged 28 points in his last five games.
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Of course, the Cavaliers have the talent to win the whole thing with three true stars in Irving, LeBron James and Kevin Love, but since they got together, the team just hasn’t quite meshed like they had hoped. The Nets beat the Cavaliers in Brooklyn last week, a game in which Cleveland scored 12 points in the fourth quarter. LeBron James scored 24 points to lead Cleveland.
Following misses from both teams and an electrifying block by Kent Bazemore on a Love three-pointer, LeBron James found Thompson for an alley-oop to tie it at 94-94 with 54 seconds left in the game. His skills were on full display during Friday night’s tight contest at the Atlanta Hawks. “We have to get better – all of us”. “I’ve got a lot more confidence than I think that anyone realizes in our team and what’s going on in our locker room”.
Cleveland is hoping Thursday’s romp bodes well since it has lost its last three games on the second nights of back-to-backs.
The teams met for the first time since November 21, when the Cavaliers took a 109-87 home win.
In the midst of it all, with his game seemingly out of whack, he faced the future with defiance, proclaiming that the Cavs were “still the team to beat” in his eyes, despite ample evidence that would suggest there’s sturdy competition out in the Western Conference with a more realistic right to that claim. The four-time MVP, who didn’t play in the fourth quarter, has 26,689 points.
Asked about the matter following the game, Irving said: “It hasn’t been hard”. But the Cavs refused to hang their heads after blowing a pair of big leads – weathering a blistering late run by the Hawks to send the game into overtime.
Thaddeus Young had 18 points and eight rebounds for the Nets. Jeff Teague led the team with 18 points, Tim Hardaway Jr. added 15 points while Dennis Schroder added 13, but the Hawks just didn’t match the level of intensity from the Raptors and they got burned.
“Go as long as I can”, he said. Bojan Bogdanovic added 14 points for Brooklyn.
“Hopefully this will help us out in tomorrow’s game with having legs and being ready to play because we haven’t been great on back-to-backs”, Lue said. The Cavs still plan to rest guys these final six games, but they’re assured of getting great efforts out of their opponents. “And they showed us they weren’t happy about it tonight”.
Next up, James needs 22 points to pass Oscar Robertson for 11th place. “I wouldn’t say overall because Golden State won it all past year”.
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For Cleveland, they want to keep the first spot in order to keep the home court advantage in the East. Shane Larkin had 13 points and eight assists while they rested starters Brook Lopez and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
