Once again Cleveland were on fire from three-point range.
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However, teams that sweep the first two rounds don’t have a great history.
In what proved to be a nail-biting contest at the Phillips Arena, the Cleveland Cavaliers prevailed over the Atlanta Hawks by a solitary point to book their place in the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday night.
ATLANTA (AP) – Kevin Love scored 27 points, LeBron James hit a huge shot with 39.2 seconds to go and the Cleveland Cavaliers finished off their second straight playoff sweep, beating the Atlanta Hawks 100-99 Sunday to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
Now, with Irving fully recovered and Love looking more comfortable in his role, the Cavaliers breezed past Detroit in four straight games and are on the verge of sweeping the Hawks out of the playoffs for the second year in a row.
“I shot the long three-not the best decision, but I had to get back on defense”, James said.
“The last three or four weeks of the season we really started playing good basketball on both ends of the court, and it’s carried over”, he said. Irving was already on board, and Love was acquired from Minnesota to complete a revised version of Miami’s Big Three James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. As a result, the Cavaliers move on to the next round, where they will face either the Miami Heat or the Toronto Raptors depending on who wins that series.
“We’re in a great rhythm right now”, said James, who won two titles with the Heat. “We know where everyone is on the floor and exactly where we should be”. He made only one 2-point basket – with his toe on the stripe.
In the end, the Hawks did have one last chance to save the game when they got the rebound after a missed three-pointer by LeBron James.
Durant scored 29 on 10-of-13 shooting in the second half. Lebron James flirted with a triple-double and he had 21 points 10 rebounds and 9 assists. The Cavs will either play game 1 of the eastern conference finals next Sunday or next Tuesday.
Tony Parker (22 points), Kawhi Leonard (21) and LaMarcus Aldridge (20) posted for the Spurs but it was not enough as OKC ran out 14-point winners.
The Hawks were eliminated from the National Basketball Association playoffs by the Cavaliers for a second straight season.
“I just tried to stay in the moment”, Durant said. If all goes according to plan in Game 4, the Cavaliers will wrap up another series as quickly as possible and give themselves plenty of extra rest before the conference final.
“‘Game of Thrones’ I’m trying to get them to watch that”, Love suddenly blurted out, drawing even more chuckles from his teammates.
“When you have a deep team, those 40-point nights, they don’t come a lot”, Durant said.
On the jump ball, and scramble in front of the Cavaliers’ bench, Millsap came up with the loose ball but his shot was too late and missed. Toronto leads 2-1.
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“I think that’s where the league is going”, Millsap said. The Cavs, though, continued their white-hot shooting, sinking nine of their first 12 3-point attempts. “They made more plays than us”. Teague scored just five points and was virtually a non-factor just one game after committing a flagrant foul on James. J.R. Smith (seven) did it in Game 2, Channing Frye (seven) did the same in Game 3, and Love followed suit in Game 4 with eight.
