Cavaliers at Hawks
The Cleveland Cavaliers look to move closer to clinching the No. 1 seed
in the Eastern Conference when they visit the Atlanta Hawks on Friday.
Cleveland is just 6-4 in its last 10 games but Thursday's 107-87
victory over the Brooklyn Nets increased its lead to 2 1/2 games over
the second-place Toronto Raptors.
Forward LeBron James scored 24 points in Thursday's victory to raise his career point total to 26,689 and move into 12th-place on the all-time scoring list, passing former Hawks' star Dominique Wilkins. James needs just 22 points to pass 11th-place Oscar Robertson (26,710) but he is more concerned with padding the lead over Toronto. "I would love to have the No. 1 seed," James told reporters. "I understand some of the players might need some rest over the last couple games, but we worked so hard all season to be No. 1. I'm never a guy (who wants) to finish second." Third-place Atlanta suffered a 105-97 road loss to Toronto on Wednesday for only its third setback in the past 15 games, and the defeat ended any realistic chance of chasing down the second-place Raptors.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN, FSN Ohio (Cleveland), FSN Southeast (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (53-22): Point guard Kyrie Irving, who had just 10 points against the Nets, missed the mid-day shootaround due to what the team said was an illness. Irving said he isn't distracted by the situation involving R&B singer Kehlani, who reportedly attempted suicide earlier this week when rumors flew that she cheated on Irving during their short dating relationship. "It hasn't been difficult. I've been through a ton of adversity in my life," Irving said after Thursday's game. "There's nothing anything or anyone can say that I can't get through. I've been through enough already in my short 24 years that most people can say for their whole entire lives."
ABOUT THE HAWKS (45-31): Atlanta had averaged 109.6 points during the previous nine games before falling three points short of the century mark against Toronto. "We’ve just got to be better defensively and offensively," point guard Jeff Teague told reporters. "We just missed some open shots. We just weren't in good of a groove, but they did a good job making it tough on us." Teague with 18 points was the only starter to reach double digits against the Raptors as All-Star frontcourt players Al Horford and Paul Millsap had just seven points apiece.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Cavaliers have lost in each of their last five visits to Atlanta.
2. Cleveland SG J.R. Smith has scored in single digits in three of the past four games and is just 7-of-26 from 3-point range during the stretch.
3. Atlanta backup SG Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 15 points and made four 3-pointers against Toronto after being 2-of-16 shooting — including missing all seven 3-point attempts — during the previous two games.