Johnson, Hawks ruin James’ big night

The win came despite 34 points from LeBron James, and a Cavaliers lead that was as large as 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Lue added 11 assists off of the bench for the Hawks. Zaza Pachulia scored 19 points for Atlanta.

Drew Gooden scored 21 and grabbed 14 rebounds, and Larry Hughes scored 17 in a losing effort for the Cavs. Donyell Marshall added 12 off of the bench. Zydrunas Ilgauskas pulled down 10 rebounds, and added eight points on the night for Cleveland.

The game appeared to be over when the Hawks were unable to get a shot off on a possession in the final minute of regulation, leading to an ugly missed jump- shot by Josh Smith, who scored 15 on the night. Gooden converted both of his ensuing free throws to put the Cavs up 89-86 with only 14.3 seconds left in the game.

Lue quickly responded with a lay-up to bring the Hawks back to within one at 89-88 with 6.7 seconds remaining. James was fouled on the ensuing play, providing an opportunity for the Cleveland star to possibly ice the game.

James made the front end, but missed his second shot, ruling out the necessity for a three by the Hawks to tie it. James was only 5-for-11 from the charity stripe on the night.

Lue blazed past Hughes on the following possession, and dropped a lay-in over the outstretched block attempt from James. The ball fell through the net as the buzzer sounded, sending the game to overtime, where the Hawks took over.

Johnson scored six straight in the extra period, on a lay-in that drew a foul followed by a three-point jumper, to push Atlanta to a 101-93 lead with 1:59 left. Atlanta outscored Cleveland 14-5 in overtime, and held James to only three points in the period.

James took the game over in the third quarter, scoring 14 of his 34 points in as Cleveland extended a 38-37 halftime lead to a 71-66 gap at the end of three quarters.

The Hawks briefly broke away on a 7-0 run in the first half, taking a 32-24 lead with 4:25 left in the second quarter.

The Cavaliers quickly responded, though, and James brought the crowd to its feet with a tomahawk dunk with 2:15 left in the first half, cutting the Hawk lead to two at 34-32.

The score was tied 20-20 after the first quarter.

Game Notes

It was James bobblehead night in Cleveland...Cleveland had a 12-game home winning streak, and a five-game overtime winning streak snapped, both stretching back to last season...Cleveland shot 23-of-37 from the free throw line, while Atlanta made 15-of-26 from the charity stripe.