Love, James lead Cavaliers past Hawks, 109-97
What set King James off during Saturday’s contest was a bad pass into the post from Jared Cunningham that went out of bounds, according to McMenamin.
Varejao ran a patented pick-and-roll with James in the fourth quarter, then started the ball swing that ended with Love at the line converting a three-point play for a 95-82 lead.
Love had a season-high 25 points and 11 rebounds and James added 19 points, 11 boards and eight assists in Saturday’s 109-97 win over Atlanta.
I have no idea what James was thinking there; the only thing that makes remote sense is that he thought Atlanta wouldn’t be able to inbound the ball as quickly as they did. “And the trainer was talking to me about it, and I said you know, ‘Is he going to be all right to play tonight?’ He looked at me like I was insane”.
The Cavs were leading the game at that point and afterwards James said he apologized to the team and head coach David Blatt added afterwards that James was “frustrated”.
“I blew a gasket”.
Mike Budenholzer was ejected with 6:27 left in the second quarter and the Hawks trailing by 12. Budenholzer appeared to step on the court and bump referee Ben Taylor, prompting the ejection. “But if there was any contact, it would be totally unintentional and if there (was) contact, I’m sure that’s why he made the judgment call that he did”. That would be their last lead of the night. Defensively they were fantastic and we just had a hard time finding a shot. “We’ve got to do better”.
We’re talking about two of the better teams in the National Basketball Association, teams with deep and talented rosters, teams that five months ago squared off in the Eastern Conference finals.
Milwaukee would take the lead at 101-99 on a pair of made free throws by Giannis Antetokounmpo before he would foul out of the game. James was asked what he foresees in this game. “That’s not what we should be. He’s such a good player that he can get into a rhythm really quickly and get real comfortable, so you’ve just got to take him out of that”.
19, 11 & 8 – After scoring just five points in the first half, LeBron finished two assists shy of a triple-double: 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists, including a full-court flick to Kevin Love for a dunk.
The Cavaliers were down to a pair of healthy regular starters with Russian center Timofey Mozgov sidelined by a right shoulder strain while star Kyrie Irving and his backcourt injury replacement, Mo Williams, were both absent.
None of that mattered.
“He’s a guy who has that size and that speed and that length”, James said. “So, I didn’t want to let a little pulled muscle or little pain get in the way of things”.
“He does his job, as great as any coach can do in this league”, LeBron said to NBA.com on Thursday.
The Hawks (9-5) were without Thabo Sefolosha while Kyle Korver sat out the final two games with a high ankle sprain after Matthew Dellavedova fell on his leg in Game 2.
NOTES: Hawks F/C Tiago Splitter left in the second half with soreness in his hip and didn’t return…. Teague entered early in the first quarter Saturday….
Atlanta is off until Tuesday November 24, when they play host to the 7-5 Boston Celtics on a nationally televised TNT showcase.