Written by Matt Fitzgerald at Bleacher Reports.com
For the second year in a row, the Cleveland Cavaliers have swept the Atlanta Hawks out of the NBA Playoffs. They did so Sunday on the strength of a thrilling 100-99 victory at Philips Arena.
Cleveland needed only four games to knock Atlanta out in last year’s conference finals and staged a similarly dominant effort in a conference semifinals matchup this time around.
Dennis Schroder fronted a bold final stand for the Hawks as they battled to stay alive in the fourth quarter. The dynamic young point guard scored 13 points in that span but was blocked by Tristan Thompson at the rim with just over a minute left, preserving a 98-97 Cavaliers lead at the time.
Although Schroder got another bucket to respond to a clutch LeBron James jumper on the subsequent possession, the final sequence saw James tie him up for a jump ball, and Atlanta didn’t get a last shot off.
James nearly notched a triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in another brilliant all-around performance.
After draining 25 and 21 three-pointers, respectively, in the prior two contests, the Cavs’ long-range prowess continued from the beginning in Game 4, and they wound up with 16 makes on 37 attempts from downtown. Kevin Love made eight three-pointers and had a team-high 27 points to go with 13 rebounds.
Today’s Fastbreak’s Will Reeve tweeted an appropriate reaction to Cleveland’s hot start as Kyrie Irving, J.R. Smith and Love poured it on early:
To its credit, Atlanta regrouped well out of a timeout trailing 11-7 from the initial Cavs barrage, largely thanks to two quick fouls from Thompson.
Hawks reserve Kris Humphries hit two treys to help the hosts hang tough while the Cavs continued to execute at a high level on offense. An 8-0 run to close out the opening quarter gave Atlanta a 36-27 edge as its bid to stave off elimination looked good to that juncture.
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