James, Cavs rout Hawks

Alksander Pavlovic added 15 points and six assists and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 14 points and 11 boards for the Cavs, who moved into a tie with the idle Chicago Bulls for the second spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race with two games to play for both teams. The Bulls, though, own the tiebreaker and will secure the second seed if the two teams finish the regular season tied.

Larry Hughes tallied 13 points for Cleveland, which has won two straight after alternating wins and loses the previous 10 contests.

Josh Smith returned from his two-game team imposed suspension to score a team- high 23 points and grab seven rebounds for the Hawks, who have lost two straight after winning two of three. Smith was forced to sit the last two games after a on-court argument with head coach Mike Woodson last Sunday.

Shelden Williams added 13 points and 11 rebounds for Atlanta, which was never really in this game.

The Cavs never trailed, scoring the first nine points of the game and extending to a 28-15 lead before going into the second with a 28-17 advantage.

Cleveland pulled away for good in the second, using a 21-6 run to open the stanza to build a 26-point lead. Anderson Varejao scored nine of his 10 points during the surge, which was capped by a Hughes free throw for a 49-23 cushion with just under three minutes to play in the stanza.

The Cavs went into halftime with a 56-28 lead and coasted through the final 24 minutes. Cleveland led 85-55 after three quarters and 99-65 with six minutes to play in the fourth.

Game Notes

Donyell Marshall had 10 points and eight boards and Daniel Gibson also scored 10 points for the Cavs...Cleveland won the last three against the Hawks to take the season series 3-1...Cleveland has won 12 of 14 overall against Atlanta...The Cavs improved to 29-11 at home...Atlanta fell to 12-28 on the road.