Hawks at Cavaliers
The Atlanta Hawks put themselves in the driver’s seat for the No. 3 spot in the Eastern Conference with a home win over the Boston Celtics on Saturday, but nothing has been decided yet. The Hawks will try to get closer to locking up that third spot and the homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs that comes with it when they visit the East-leading Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday.
Atlanta could still fall down to fifth in the East with a poor final two games but looks like a team that wants to go into the postseason strong with wins in three straight games and 12 of the last 15 contests. One of those three losses came at home against the Cavaliers, 110-108 in overtime on Apr. 1, but that was against a Cleveland team that was willing to push its stars to 40 minutes and beyond. The Cavaliers have been more apt to rest players in anticipation of a lengthy playoff run of late and dropped their last two contests. LeBron James sat out Wednesday’s loss at Indiana and Iman Shumpert, who started in James’ place against the Pacers, got the night off on Saturday to rest nagging knee soreness.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBATV, FSN Southeast (Charlotte), FSN Ohio (Cleveland)
ABOUT THE HAWKS (48-32): All-Star Paul Millsap scored a season-high 31 points to go along with 16 rebounds and Jeff Teague continued his stellar play of late with 24 points in Saturday’s key 118-107 victory. The win finished out the home schedule for Atlanta, which went 27-14 in its own building, and it will finish up at Cleveland and Washington as it tries to hold off Boston, Miami and Charlotte. Teague is averaging 23.8 points in the last four games and buried at least one 3-pointer in each of those contests as he rounds back into form after an inconsistent March that saw him score in single digits four times.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (56-24): Cleveland was disappointed in its play during a 105-102 loss at the Chicago Bulls on Saturday and would like to tighten things up before the playoffs. 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. “It’s all about making the easy play,” Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue told reporters. “When we were up by 11, Kevin (Love) got the rebound and threw a bad pass and then they came down and scored. Then LeBron came back with a turnover and they scored again. … We just have to find a way to get the momentum back in a situation like that.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Cavaliers PG Kyrie Irving went 5-of-17 from the floor on Saturday after hitting 16-of-27 in the previous two contests.
2. Hawks SF Kent Bazemore (knee) returned from a one-game absence on Saturday and scored 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
3. Cleveland, which swept Atlanta in the Eastern Conference finals last spring, has taken each of the first two regular-season meetings.