Cavaliers bring Hawks back to earth

Cavaliers Sasha Pavlovic (3) and Joe Smith give Atlanta's Joe Johnson double trouble. (Tony Dejak/Associated Press)

Any ideas the Atlanta Hawks had of extending their seven-game winning streak ended quickly yesterday in Cleveland.

LeBron James and the Cavaliers rolled to a 24-point lead early in the second period in winning their eighth straight game, 102-96, over the Hawks.

"We wanted to first protect home court like we've been able to do," said James, who scored 22 points as the Eastern Conference-leading Cavaliers (56-13) improved their home record to 32-1 and stayed four games ahead of the second-place Celtics, who beat Memphis, 105-87, last night. "We had a lot of energy."

Too much energy for the Hawks, who were hoping to prove a point against the team with the best record in the NBA. Instead, it turned into an afternoon of frustration for Atlanta, which found itself behind, 40-16, with 8:56 left in the half.

Hawks coach Mike Woodson picked up technical fouls in the second and third periods and was ejected with 6:30 left in the third period. Mike Bibby and Josh Smith were also hit with technicals in the third.

Woodson didn't speak with reporters after the game, sending assistant Larry Drew to talk.

Bibby, who was 6 for 15 from the field, said he was going to appeal the automatic fine that goes with being assessed a technical foul. Meanwhile, center Al Horford said the Hawks needed to be quiet.

"We shouldn't even be talking to the refs," Horford said. "We have to go out there and play.

"The Cavs are the best team in the league, so we need to go out and play. Until guys understand that, we're going to be going through this."

Mo Williams led the Cavaliers with 24 points. He was 8 for 14 from the field, including 3 for 4 on 3-pointers. James played 40 minutes, hitting 9 for 21 from the field to go along with seven rebounds and five assists.

Cleveland's Zydrunas Ilgauskas passed the 10,000-career point mark in the first period when he hit two foul shots. James, Brad Daugherty, and Austin Carr are the only other players in franchise history to reach 10,000 points. in their careers.

The 7-foot-3-inch Ilgauskas missed the 1996-97 and 1999-2000 seasons and played in only 24 games in 2000-01 because of injuries to his feet.

"Obviously, if I had not missed so many years because of injuries, I would have had more points," said Ilgauskas.

"I consider myself lucky to still be playing basketball, so I'll take this one and not ask for too much."

Ilgauskas scored 16 points and was given a standing ovation when it was announced he had reached the milestone.

Joe Johnson led Atlanta with 24 points, while Flip Murray added 22 and Maurice Evans scored 15.

Magic 110, Knicks 103 - Rashard Lewis scored 27 points, Hedo Turkoglu added 20, and surging Orlando nearly blew a 15-point lead before holding off visiting New York.

Rafer Alston had 17 points, and Dwight Howard battled foul trouble to score 15 for the Magic, who have won nine of their last 11 games.

The win kept Orlando (51-18) tied in the loss column with the Celtics for the Eastern Conference's second-best record behind Cleveland.

Lakers 117, Bulls 109 - Kobe Bryant scored 28 points, Pau Gasol added 23 and Los Angeles rallied to beat Chicago in the first game of a season-high, seven-game trip.

The Lakers trailed by 16 in the second quarter and 14 at the half, but came roaring back in the third, pulling within 1. They tied it early in the fourth, then took the lead with a 14-0 run that made it 106-93.

Suns 128, Wizards 96 - Jason Richardson scored 17 of his season-high 35 points in the third quarter and host Phoenix extended its winning streak to a season-high four games.

Shaquille O'Neal scored 13 to pass Moses Malone as the No. 5 scorer in NBA history with 27,411 points.

Pacers 108, Bobcats 83 - Jarrett Jack scored 31 points and was nearly perfect from the field (13 of 14 shots) a night after getting benched following a dispute with a teammate as an energized Indiana dominated visiting Charlotte to snap a five-game losing streak.

Trail Blazers 96, Bucks 84 - Brandon Roy scored 30 points to lead visiting Portland past Milwaukee.