Advertisement
Advertisement
LeBron James
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
LeBron James cheers from the sidelines late in the game. Photo: AP

LeBron James’ Cavaliers sweep aside Hawks and march into NBA finals

LeBron James
APSPT

The championship LeBron James craves more than any other, the one he came back home to get, is within reach.

The Cavaliers are in the NBA finals.

James scored 23 points, Kyrie Irving provided a boost after missing two games and Cleveland reserved a spot in the finals with a 118-88 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night to win the Eastern Conference title.

We have everything it takes to win
LeBron James

By sweeping the top-seeded Hawks, the Cavs earned their second trip to the finals, where they will face either Golden State or Houston starting on June 4.

It will be the fifth straight visit to the league’s showcase event for the inimitable James, who returned to Cleveland after four years in Miami to try to end this city’s championship drought dating to 1964. The Cavs are four wins from doing it, and if they can, James will have a title that would put him in a class by himself. Other players have won more championships, but none has ever done it for his ring-starved home region.

“We have everything it takes to win,” James said after the Cavs were presented with the conference trophy.

However, they’ve got their eyes on another one.
Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague and injured guard Thabo Sefolosha watch glumly from the bench. Photo: USA Today

“Cleveland,” owner Dan Gibert said, addressing the crowd. “We’re not settling for this.”

Jeff Teague scored 17 and Paul Millsap 16 for Atlanta, who won a team-record 60 games during the regular season and made the conference finals for the first time since 1970. But the Hawks were no match for the Cavaliers and had no answer for James, who nearly averaged a triple-double in the four games.

J.R. Smith added 18 points and Tristan Thompson had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Cavs, who were handed new caps and T-shirts following the win and were joined by family members on the floor to celebrate.
The Cavaliers celebrate reaching the NBA finals. Photo: AFP

But unlike 2007, when James ran into centre Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ arms at the final horn, he was very business-like after the clock hit zero.

Standing at centre court, he turned to Smith and reminded him there was work still undone.

“Four more,” James said.

It was a tough way for the Hawks to end a remarkable season. They survived a tumultuous offseason, and their young roster gelled in January when they became the first franchise to go 17-0 in a calendar month. They went on to win 19 straight, improved their record by 22 wins over last season and beat Brooklyn and Washington to make their first conference finals since 1994.

But an injury to starting forward Thabo Sefolosha in April was followed by DeMarre Carroll injuring his knee in the series opener, before Kyle Korver’s season ended in game two with an ankle injury.
LeBron James takes a picture with his wife Savannah after the game. Photo: EPA

Those all hurt, but it was James who inflicted the most pain.

James carried the Cavs to their first finals appearance eight years ago, when they were swept by San Antonio. Cleveland were heavy underdogs then and it was assumed the Cavs would get back again. But James left in 2010 to join the Heat, a move that dropped the Cavaliers from relevance and into the draft lottery for four straight years. But those days are over – Cleveland and King James reign supreme in the East.

 

 

Post