The Pistons, who trailed by 12 early in the third quarter, shot 6 of 7 from 3-point range in the fourth to pull away from Memphis.
Advertisement
Irving was called for an offensive foul shortly thereafter, with Cleveland trailing 123-120 with 12.3 seconds remaining, for making contact with Millsap, who slid over to take a charge from the Cavs’ guard.
The Hawks scored just 67 points through the first three quarters but scored 59 in the fourth and overtime.
“As a group, our energy was very low”, LeBron James said.
Before facing the Hawks, coach Tyronn Lue said he planned to play Irving and James until the Cavs clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James (23) drives past Atlanta Hawks’ DeAndre Bembry (95) in the second half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, April 7, 2017, in Cleveland.
LeBron James has scored 30 or more in three of those four games and recorded a triple-double in the lone game he scored less than 30.
LOS ANGELES – Julius Randle scored 25 points and Corey Brewer stole an inbounds pass with 5 seconds to play, was fouled and made both free throws to lead Los Angeles over Sacramento.
The loss dropped the Cavaliers (51-29) into a tie with Boston for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, although Cleveland owns the tiebreaker.
The Cavs are off Saturday then face the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat in back-to-back games on Sunday and Monday.
“To me, it’s never been about trying to get the No. 1 seed”.
By the Numbers – 44.0 … points that Kyrie Irving is averaging in two games at Philips Arena this season – shooting.588 from the floor, including.650 from long-range, to go with 9.0 assists and 2.5 steals per contest.
James scored 27 and Kyrie Irving 18 for Cleveland, which was in a funk for most of the night but took an 87-85 lead in the fourth on a 3-pointer by Korver.
The 32-year-old is a solid defender, who is also able to score over 18 points on a nightly basis. The Hawks are on track to make the playoffs for the 10th straight season, but they will have to watch their back from the fierce competition of the Chicago Bulls, the Indiana Pacers and the Miami Heat, who all compete for only three playoffs spots.
Disagreeing a bit with Hardaway, Millsap ranked the victories over the Cavaliers differently.
– If the Celtics win out, with games against the Brooklyn Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks, they need just one loss from the Cavaliers in their final two games to earn the No. 1 seed.
Meanwhile, the Hawks, a team many left for dead a couple weeks ago, rank fourth in defense with the league’s worst offense.
Tim Hardaway Jr. added 21 points to help Atlanta beat Cleveland for the second time in three days.
Boston star Isaiah Thomas led the game scoring with 35 points while Jae Crowder had 24.
The Cavaliers continued to dominate through the third quarter, but then everything changed. Beating them in back-to-back games would be an impressive accomplishment. You don’t send one of your best (and most popular) talents to the competition – a team that’s beaten you the past two postseasons to boot – unless you’ve given up.
Advertisement
So we’ve got Gucci Mane and Hassan Whiteside being impressed by the game, people blaming the Cavaliers’ collapse on the referees and Skip Bayless going full on CAPS ATTACK! with his thorough analysis of this improbable upset. We had some good moments, and we had some not-so-good moments today.
