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SPORTSThursday 28 May 2015
LeBron, Cavaliers earn NBA Finals spot by sweeping Hawks
TOM WITHERS Unlike 2007, when James and into the lower rungs of
celebrated at the final the standings.
AP Sports Writer horn, he was very business- His return to his home team,
like after the clock hit zero. to play alongside Kevin
CLEVELAND (AP) — The Standing at center court, Love — out for the sea-
he turned to Smith and said son with a shoulder injury
championship LeBron “four more.” — and Irving immediately
It was a tough way for the made the Cavaliers the
James craves more than Hawks to end a remarkable team to beat in the East.
season. They survived a tu- It didn’t go exactly as
any other, the one he multuous offseason, and planned under first-year
their young roster gelled coach David Blatt, who left
came back home to get, in January when they be- his family in Israel to take
came the first franchise the Cavs’ job.
is within reach after Cleve- to go 17-0 in a calendar “We’re in Cleveland,” Blatt
month. They went on to win cracked. “Nothing is easy
land routed Atlanta 118-88 19 straight, improved their here.”
win-loss record by 22 wins The Cavs lost center An-
on Tuesday to complete a over last season and beat derson Varejao to a sea-
Brooklyn and Washington son-ending Achilles injury
series sweep and secure its in the playoffs to make in December and they
their first conference finals were 19-20 before trading
place in the NBA Finals. since 1994. for Smith, Iman Shumpert
But an injury to starting for- and Timofey Mozgov, a trio
James scored 23 points ward Thabo Sefolosha in that provided the intended
April was followed by De- boost.
and Kyrie Irving provid- Marre Carroll injuring his Irving, who missed Cleve-
knee in the series opener, land’s previous two games
ed a boost after missing before Kyle Korver’s season with tendinitis in his left
ended in Game 2 with an knee, scored 16 and the
two games as Cleveland ankle injury. All-Star point guard looked
Those all hurt, but it was better than he has in weeks.
cruised to victory and set James who inflicted the Unlike Game 3, when he
most pain. missed his first 10 shots,
up a meeting with either James carried the Cavs to James started much bet-
their first finals appearance ter and scored 15 in the first
Golden State or Houston. eight years ago, when they half as the Cavs opened a
were swept by San Antonio. 17-point halftime lead. They
It is only the second time Cleveland was a heavy un- pushed it to 20 early in the
derdog then and it was as- third, withstood a brief rally
the Cavaliers have made sumed the Cavs would get by the Hawks and spent
back again. But James left the fourth quarter playing
it to the Finals, but the fifth in 2010 to join the Heat, a their reserves and getting
move that dropped the ready for a party and some
straight visit for James, who Cavaliers from relevance time off before the finals.q
returned to Cleveland this
season after four success-
ful years with Miami.
None of Cleveland’s top
sports teams — in the NBA,
NFL or MLB — have won a
title since 1964. The Cava- Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James reacts on the side-
lines late in the second half of Game 4 of the NBA basketball
liers are four wins from end- Eastern Conference Finals against the Atlanta Hawks, Tuesday,
May 26, 2015, in Cleveland.
ing that drought, and if
Associated Press
they can, James will have
a title that would put him
in a class by himself. Other eyes on more than the East- conference finals for the
ern Conference crown. first time since 1970. But
players have won more “Cleveland,” owner Dan the Hawks were no match
Gibert said, addressing the for the Cavaliers and had
championships, but none crowd. “We’re not settling no answer for James, who
for this.” nearly averaged a triple-
has ever done it for his suc- Jeff Teague scored 17 and double in the four games.
Paul Millsap 16 for Atlanta, J.R. Smith added 18 points
cess-starved home region. which won a team-record and Tristan Thompson had
60 games during the regu- 16 points and 11 rebounds
“We have everything it lar season and made the for the Cavs.
takes to win,” James said
after the Cavs were pre-
sented with the confer-
ence trophy.
However, they’ve got their
Brassard, Lundqvist lead Rangers past Lightning 7-3
TAMPA, Florida (AP) — New placed with his team trailing 2012.
York’s Derek Brassard had 5-1 with just under 13 min- He’ll have a chance to build on
a hat trick and Henrik Lun- utes remaining. Rick Nash that superb record in Game 7
dqvist stopped 36 shots added a power-play goal on Friday in New York.
in another season-saving against Andrei Vasilevskiy. “We capitalized early on our
performance as the Rang- Lundqvist was outstand- chances, and after that our
ers beat Tampa Bay 7-3 on ing before giving up a pair goaltender was asked to make
Tuesday to force a decisive of third-period goals to Ni- some big saves, which he did,”
Game 7 in the NHL Eastern kita Kucherov. New York Rangers coach Alain Vigneault
Conference finals. improved to 4-0 in games said. “But in the third period,
Brassard also had two as- where it faced elimination with our season on the line,
sists for the Rangers, who in this postseason, and Lun- we probably played our best
evened the series 3-3. Keith dqvist is 9-1 with his team’s period of this series so far. We
Yandle, James Sheppard season on the line since the wanted a chance and we got
and J.T. Miller also scored start of last year’s playoffs, a chance.”
past Lightning goaltender and 15-3 under those cir- Brassard completed his hat trick
Ben Bishop, who was re- cumstances dating back to with empty-netter with 1:41 to
go.“Every time we’re in an elim-
New York Rangers’ J.T. Miller (10) congratulates teammate ination game, that’s the way
Derick Brassard (16) on a third-period goal against the Tampa we play,” Brassard said.
Bay Lightning during Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals in New York scored five times in
the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs,Tuesday, May 26, 2015, in the third period, turning a tight
Tampa, Fla. game into a rout. q
Associated Press
