Hawks at Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers are closing in on the top seed in the Eastern Conference and can take another step forward when they host the Atlanta Hawks on Friday in the opener of a home-and-home set. The Cavaliers rolled past Boston 114-91 on Wednesday for their fourth straight victory and have opened a 1 1/2-game lead over the Celtics with four contests remaining.
Cleveland is averaging 123.3 points during the winning streak and has won by 17 or more three times on the dominating stretch. "I'm pretty sure everybody is going to write about it, probably this drastic change, all of the sudden the Cavs are contenders again," All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving told reporters. "But for us, it's just really minimizing the mistakes that we make down on the floor and what we're doing offensively and defensively, and then as one of the leaders on the team, bringing guys along as best we can." Atlanta holds a one-half game lead over Milwaukee for the fifth seed in the East after posting a solid 123-116 victory over the Celtics on Thursday that was just the squad's third win in 12 games. All-Star power forward Paul Millsap scored 26 points in his best performance since sitting out eight games with a knee injury and will be held out Friday in the second game of a back-to-back set.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Atlanta), FSN Ohio (Cleveland)
ABOUT THE HAWKS (40-38): The big performance against Boston came in Millsap's second game back from the injury, and he helped fuel a 71-point first half as Atlanta posted its highest point total since a 135-130 loss to the Cavaliers on March 3. "Ball movement, definitely ball movement," Millsap told reporters of the key to the scoring output. "Things we've tried to get better at all year. That's how we've got to play. This is our team and if we continue to do that, we will be able to score." Shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. scored a career-best 36 points during last month's loss to Cleveland, and he is averaging 19 over his last four games after scoring 23 against on Thursday.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (51-27): Irving scored 43 points on 14-of-21 shooting in last month's victory over the Hawks - Cleveland set an NBA record with 25 3-pointers that night - for one of his three 40-point outings this season. His 19-point effort against Boston marked only the second time in his last 27 games that he didn't reach 20 and he is averaging a career-best 25 - second on the squad behind All-Star forward LeBron James (26.3). Power forward Kevin Love is settling into a groove now that he is fully healthy and has posted four straight double-doubles while averaging 20.3 points and 12.3 rebounds during the winning streak.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. PG Dennis Schroder scored 28 points as the Hawks posted a 110-106 road win over the Cavaliers on Nov. 8.
2. Atlanta SF Thabo Sefolosha (groin) is expected to miss his seventh straight game.
3. Cleveland C Tristan Thompson (thumb) will miss his second consecutive contest after playing in a franchise-record 447 straight regular-season games.