The Cleveland Cavaliers have clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the 2016 NBA Playoffs.
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The Cavs were up by three to start the fourth quarter, with Irving taking the floor alongside Cleveland reserves Matthew Dellavedova, Channing Frye, Richard Jefferson and Timofey Mozgov (who came off the bench with Tristan Thompson getting the start against Chicago).
“For our team, we’re in a good place right now….” Kevin Love added 14 rebounds for Cleveland, which will wrap up the regular season on Wednesday against Detroit – a possible first-round opponent. James returned from his one-game hiatus and scored 33 points on 13-of-17 shooting but committed four turnovers as the Cavaliers let a lead slip away. “You can’t fault anyone for winning and then say, ‘Oh, they were exhausted because they lost late.’ You don’t get that opportunity if you don’t win”, he said. With a first quarter three-pointer on Tuesday night in Milwaukee, Smith broke Wesley Person’s franchise record of 192 threes made in a single season. “We played great basketball for 36 minutes”, said James.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have won nine of their last 11 home games.
Now locked into the No. 1 seed, the Cavaliers can focus their attention on capturing back-to-back Eastern Conference titles.
Last time out, the Cavs were able to highlight the biggest problem the Hawks will have with the Cavs in a potential playoff series – mainly that they have no one to stop LeBron James without DeMarre Carroll around.
Lue spoke for weeks about the importance of securing home court. “I couldn’t go home without feeling like that fourth quarter could have gone different if I would have played better”. Expect Kyrie Irving to raise his performance in hopes of offsetting the team’s recent personnel losses in the backcourt, riding shotgun with James as the King’s land officially gears up for next week and beyond. “It’s just about us continuing to work our process, work our habits, and live with the results”. He’s averaging a healthy 25.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game. Following a Smith miss on the second free throw, Cleveland’s Mathew Dellavedova missed a three-point attempt with two seconds remaining that would have given the Cavaliers the lead.
Kent Bazemore scored 23 points for the Hawks, including the game’s first eight points to give the Hawks an early lead. Elfrid Payton had 11 points and 11 assists. Lue said, “I just wanted to” when asked to explain the decision.
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Cavaliers: G Iman Shumpert (left knee soreness) sat out….
