LeBron James made his point.
He’s still the king – and if the Cavaliers meet the Hawks in the playoffs again they better believe it.
James finished with 34 points, including three 3-pointers, six rebounds and six assists and played 32:25 as the Cavaliers defeated the Hawks 109-94 Monday night at Quicken Loans Arena. James played all but 3:35 of the first three quarters. He was not needed at all in the fourth.
Think the game mattered?
The Cavaliers (57-24) clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with the victory. The Hawks held that position last season before being swept by the Cavaliers in the conference finals.
The Hawks (48-33) had a three-game win streak snapped but retained third place in the conference standings. The Hawks did clinch home-court advantage, either the third or fourth seed, when the Hornets defeated the Celtics Monday.
Kent Bazemore led the Hawks with 23 points, 21 in the first half. Jeff Teague added 21 points for the Hawks, who had a three-game win streak snapped. Al Horford finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Including last season’s postseason, the Hawks have lost seven straight games to the Cavaliers, including all three this season.
Kyrie Irving played well into the fourth quarter and had a game-high 35 points for the Cavaliers, who had a two-game losing streak snapped. He had four 3-pointers.
“They’ve got some really good players,” Kyle Korver said. “I thought we started on a good run early. (Bazemore) knocked down some shots. It’s a game of runs. They are tough at home. They a have some really good basketball players. Obviously, LeBron had an amazing shooting night. Kyrie did too. Those guys are capable of doing that. I think that team goes on a lot of runs, not just against us.”
The Hawks started fast by scoring the first 10 points of the game, including the first eight by Bazemore. The Cavaliers battled back and eventually took a brief lead in the second quarter on a 20-8 run. The Hawks regained the lead as Bazemore scored eight straight points again. However, the Cavaliers took a 51-45 lead into halftime after ending the second quarter on a 19-7 run.
The Hawks got as close as two points, 68-66, in the third quarter. The Cavaliers answered with a decisive 20-5 run to go up by 17 points.
Game over.
The Hawks end the regular season at the Wizards on Wednesday.
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