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Smith and James lead Cavs past Hawks
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Cleveland’s LeBron James, complemented by a sharp-shooting J.R. Smith, led the Cavaliers to a valuable road victory in the opening game of the NBA Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday, beating Atlanta 97-89.
While James led Cleveland with 31 points, it was Smith who ignited the Cavaliers, making eight 3-pointers and scoring 28 points. “When he gets hot,” Cleveland coach David Blatt marveled, “he gets smoking hot.”
Intent on bringing Cleveland its first NBA title, James sealed the victory with a soaring dunk in the final minute. For the Hawks, it was the second straight series in which they’ve lost the opening game at home.
Making matters worse for Atlanta, DeMarre Carroll went down with a knee injury with 4:59 remaining. He will undergo an MRI scan to determine the seriousness.
Besides being the main defender on James, Carroll had been the Hawks’ leading scorer in the playoffs. He was averaging more than 17 points coming into Atlanta’s first conference final.
“DeMarre is a complete player,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “He has a big impact at both ends of the court.”
Jeff Teague led Atlanta with 27 points. But Atlanta didn’t produce its usual balanced scoring, as two starters — Kyle Korver and Carroll — failed to reach double figures.
With Smith doing most of the damage, Cleveland outscored the Hawks 22-4 over the final 5 minutes of the third quarter and the first 2 minutes of the fourth. During that span, he made five 3-pointers and another jumper from just inside the arc, as well as throwing up a lob that Tristan Thompson dunked.
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