The Atlanta Hawks are now officially in the offseason after getting swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
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The post Cavaliers Notes: Cleveland makes “only” 16 3-pointers in Game 4, sets record for 3s in 4-game series appeared first on Chronicle-Telegram. “Three-point shots are a killer, man”.
Two playoff series, two sweeps.
Kevin Love scored 27 points, LeBron James knocked down a huge shot with 39.2 seconds to go, and Kyrie Irving turned in another dazzling performance to lead Cleveland past the Atlanta Hawks 100-99 on Sunday.
The Cavaliers finally cooled off from 3-point range in Game 4 on Sunday, but they were still warm enough.
I think they shot more threes this year and it killed us with threes this year as opposed to last year. Cavaliers had injury problems at this stage previous year with Kevin Love ruled out and Kyrie Irving not fully fit.
The Cavaliers will face the victor of the Miami-Toronto series in the conference finals.
“We’re in a great rhythm right now”, said James, who won two titles with the Heat and wants to bring one home. “He did exactly what we dared him to do”. If the Miami-Toronto series goes seven games, it will conclude on May 15. He made only one two-point basket – with his toe on the stripe.
James finished the night with 21 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and two steals.
With a chance to take the lead, Schroder drove but had his shot rejected by Tristan Thompson.
As Schroder tried to spin in an attempt to shoot, James was standing right there and perfectly timed his maneuver, tying up the ball with 2.8 seconds left for a jump ball. “We have to live with that, and I have to make a better decision”. LeBron James faced Schroder on a jump ball and tapped it into the corner. The Hawks could not get a shot off after the jump ball. Fouled Out-None. Rebounds-Cleveland 41 (Love 13), Atlanta 42 (Millsap 9).
“We knew Atlanta was a tough team, and the close-out game is the hardest to win”.
This game had it all and it was a real thriller in Atlanta as the Cavaliers had the game-winners in their ranks. If at times during the regular season it looked like he was coasting, like the Cleveland Cavaliers weren’t everything they could be, it was because over the course of his career, James has figured out the fine art of picking his spots and conserving his best.
The Hawks were led by Dennis Schroder with 21 points and Paul Millsap with 19 points, 17 coming in the first half.
Schroder put the Hawks up 97-96 on a drive with 1:31 remaining. Cleveland’s newly adopted playing style of surrounding LeBron James with four shooters clearly paid off for the Cavs.
Even though the call stood after another review, Millsap insisted it was a clean block.
“I’ll believe that all summer”, he said.
Trailing by just a point (100-99), the Hawks had one last chance to extend the series to a fifth game.
The Cavaliers are now 7-0 when leading a series 3-0 – and three of those victories have come against the Hawks. Millsap hurt us in that first quarter, so we had to go small and put (Richard Jefferson) on him. Veteran forward Thabo Sefolosha, starting in his second consecutive game for the struggling Kyle Korver, finished with 16 points. Lue called it just “a little shove out of frustration”.
Teague wasn’t much of a factor, anyway, scoring just five points and sitting out the closing minutes.
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Every time Love got open for a 3-pointer, the Philips Arena crowd gasped in anticipation. Three players finished with double-figure rebounds, led by Love with 13. James and Thompson had 10 apiece. Cleveland has 11 straight wins over Atlanta going back to the 2015 conference finals.
