Old friend Kevin Love and the Cleveland Cavaliers snuck out a 100-99 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday afternoon to sweep the Atlanta Hawks for the second consecutive season in the NBA playoffs.
This means the Cavaliers will advance to the Eastern Conference Finals with a perfect 8-0 record in the 2016 playoffs.
It was the closest game of the series thus far (because you can’t get closer than one point), but the 3-point barrage carried the Cavaliers once again. Cleveland shot 16-for-37 (43.2 percent) from deep, including eight from Love on his way to 27 points and 13 rebounds.
More importantly, LeBron James hugged Love after the game and might have even included him in an Instagram picture, so this is all pretty good news.
But the best news for Cleveland fans is that the Cavaliers will have a big break before facing off against the Toronto Raptors or Miami Heat – two center-less teams. The earliest that series could be over is Wednesday.
For the Hawks, well, what now? Free agency looms for Al Horford and the team probably needs to consider what the future is for a guy like Dennis Schroder. Schroder made some incredible plays down the stretch, and played three more minutes than Jeff Teague. But he also had some head-scratching plays, including one that got him caught in a jump ball against James in the final seconds.
And that shouldn’t have been a jump ball since Schroder took four steps before that.
The problem with Dennis Schroder is that he’s stubborn but the glorious thing about Dennis Schroder is that he’s really, really stubborn.
I don’t envy Mike Budenholzer this offseason.
Kevin Durant is back. Well, he averaged 28.2 points per game during the regular season, so he was already back. But on the big stage, Durant willed the Thunder to a 111-97 win over the San Antonio Spurs to tie the series at 2-2. We can stop wondering if he’s fully recovered from his season-ending foot injury last season.
It was a 14-point win, but it wasn’t really. The game was tight throughout and even when the Thunder led by six points late in the fourth, we just kind of figured the Spurs would find a way back in the game.
Nope.
This was Durant’s game.
Durant tied the game at 87-87 with 9:38 left in the fourth and then scored the next six OKC points to put the Thunder up six. He would score nine more points in the quarter, including seven straight during a 56-second stretch.
The Thunder offense isn’t fun to watch, most of the time. Most of the time we’re longing for Durant to get the ball, but instead Russell Westbrook jacks up a 17-foot jumper with 20 seconds left on the shot clock or Dion Waiters does Dion Waiters things.
The offense last night, however, was beautiful with Durant running the show.
The Spurs vs. Warriors dream matchup isn’t a guarantee.
Game 5 will be on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on TNT.
