CLEVELAND — Rusty, rested or reeling, LeBron James and the Cavaliers find a way to beat the Hawks in the playoffs every time.

James scored 25 points, Kyrie Irving added 21 and Cleveland withstood a strong second-half surge by Atlanta to maintain its chokehold on the Hawks with a 104-93 victory Monday night in the opening game of their second-round Eastern Conference series.

James converted a critical three-point play with 2:09 left for the Cavs, who blew an 18-point lead in the second half and fell behind with 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter before making several clutch plays down the stretch.

Cleveland swept Atlanta in last year’s Eastern Conference finals and has won eight straight over the Hawks, moving to 9-0 against them in the postseason.

This was by no means easy, however.

“We needed everything,” said James, who gave his team just that, adding nine assists, seven rebounds and five steals. “We played an OK game. I don’t think we played to our standards. The first game is always kind of a feel-out.”

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Dennis Schroder scored a playoff career-high 27 and rallied the Hawks before they crumbled in the closing minutes. Atlanta’s offense bogged down in crunch time and the Hawks only scored two field goals in the final 4 minutes.

Paul Millsap had 17 points and 13 rebounds, and Kent Bazemore added 16 points for Atlanta, which got just eight points from Jeff Teague.

Game 2 is Wednesday night.

Despite the loss, the Hawks were mostly pleased with their effort.

Thunder 98, Spurs 97: Russell Westbrook had 29 points and 10 assists, and Oklahoma City held on to win in San Antonio, evening the series at one game apiece when the Spurs failed to score on a wild sequence in the final seconds.

Kevin Durant added 28 points as the Thunder handed the Spurs just their second home loss of the season, rebounding from a 32-point beating in Game 1.

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Oklahoma City’s Dion Waiters appeared to push Manu Ginobili while inbounding to start the final possession and Danny Green stole the ball from Durant. Patty Mills missed an open 3-pointer, LaMarcus Aldridge lost the ball after grabbing the airball and Kawhi Leonard was unable to gather the ball before the buzzer sounded.

Aldridge had 41 points.

Game 3 is Friday at Oklahoma City.

NOTES

WARRIORS: Stephen Curry still hopes he will be ready to return for Golden State’s Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals Saturday at Portland.

Coach Steve Kerr said Monday the reigning MVP wouldn’t be available for Tuesday’s Game 2 with the Warriors up 1-0 in the best-of-seven series after a 118-106 win Sunday in the opener.

“I’ll just say he’s doubtful just so we give everybody something to chew on,” Kerr said. “He’s not playing tomorrow, but he’s doubtful.”


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