Cavs' defense clamps down on Hawks in fourth 95 - 84

Dec 29, 2009

The Cleveland Cavaliers have won the most games in the East by deploying a combination of LeBron James' scoring, long-distance shooting and smothering defense. On Tuesday night they proved they could win with someone other than James leading the team in scoring, and getting out-shot on 3-pointers -- just as long as they play that defense. Mo Williams had 20 points to lead six double-figure scorers, and the Cleveland limited Atlanta to 10 fourth-quarter points to beat Atlanta, 95-84, in front of 20,150, the largest regular-season crowd in Philips Arena history. The win was the Cavs' fifth straight, and fifth out of six on the road. The teams meet in the back end of the home-and-home Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena. "It was an ugly game but you've got to win ugly games like that," said Brown, whose club raised its record to 15-3 against teams at or above .500 in a game that saw 37 turnovers (20 by Cleveland). "Defensively in the second half, we were pretty good." Imagine what great looks like. Atlanta had been 12-2 at home, and in December was averaging 110.2 points, having won its last eight games by an average of 14.8 points. But on this night, the Hawks' scoring went down in each quarter, and, in the fourth, they went 8:48 without a point, turning a 75-74 game after three quarters into an 85-74 breeze. "I don't know how to even begin to explain it," said Hawks coach Mike Woodson. "We didn't execute. We threw the ball all over the place. Offensively we were our own worst nightmare. You just have to give them credit."

Jamal Crawford had a game-high 26 points for Atlanta, which missed 10 shots and even three foul shots in the fourth-quarter drought, while also turning the ball over six times. Cleveland wasn't much better, shooting 4-for-16 in that stretch and turning the ball over five times. "That's what we do. We lock down in the fourth quarter," said James, who just missed his third triple-double of the season, scoring 12 points, grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out a game-high 10 assists. "That's where games are decided. Defensively we locked down." They especially locked down on Joe Johnson, who finished with 15 points, but 11 of those came in the game's first six minutes. He was held to two foul shots over the next 39:55, scoring with 2:00 left and the Hawks down by 11. "It was a complete team effort," said James, who guarded Johnson in the fourth quarter. "The coaches came up with a game plan after he went off for 11 in the first three or four minutes, then the guys buckled down. We just kept different faces and different schemes on him and kept him off-balance." Atlanta closed to within five at 89-84 in the final minute, but a Zydrunas Ilgauskas three shut the door. Cleveland's balanced attack was too much for Atlanta. Delonte West put in 17 off the bench, including a breathtaking dunk over Josh Smith.

"He'll sneak you," said James of West, who scored 10 of his 17 in the final stanza. "You look at his size, his weight and his height and you don't think he can get up there. A lot of guys have stopped jumping with him." Cleveland also held a commanding 50-32 edge in points in the paint, and a 43-30 edge on the boards. James, Shaquille O'Neal, and Anderson Varejao each pulled down eight rebounds and every Cavalier player had at least one. Atlanta shot 40 percent on threes, but hurt itself at the foul line, missing five of its first seven attempts and 10 overall. Cleveland took a 56-51 lead into halftime, on the strength of a 33-point second quarter. Williams literally didn't miss in the period, shooting 4-for-4, 2-for-2 on threes and 2-for-2 from the line. He hit a pair of threes as Cleveland went on a 10-4 run early in the second to take a 33-30 lead, its first since 2-0. Atlanta would take one lead in the second half, and that lasted all of five seconds. Crawford kept Atlanta close with 17 second-quarter points, shooting 7-for-10, 3-for-3 on threes.

The Hawks led by as much as eight in the first quarter and 26-23 after one, but Cleveland went on a 14-9 run with James on the bench and went into the half with momentum as James put home a monster breakaway slam, just beating the buzzer.

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