LeBron, J.R. lead Cavs
LEBRON JAMES scored 31 points and J.R. Smith added 28 as the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Atlanta Hawks, 97-89, last night to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals series.
LEBRON JAMES scored 31 points and J.R. Smith added 28 as the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Atlanta Hawks, 97-89, last night to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals series.
Smith was 8-for-12 from beyond the three-point arc.
Tristan Thompson had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Timofey Mozgov had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Cavs.
Jeff Teague, led the Hawks with 27 points.
Atlanta forward DeMarre Carroll, who was held to five points, left the game with about 5 minutes left after his left knee buckled while he was driving to the basket.
Carroll has been Atlanta's leading scorer in the postseason, averaging 17.1 points per game. He also is the team's top defensive player and was assigned to cover James most of the game.
The Hawks provided no immediate update on Carroll's injury.
Noteworthy
* Houston center Dwight Howard has a sprained left knee and is unsure whether he'll be able to play against Golden State in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals tonight.
He hurt his knee in a first-quarter collision with teammate Josh Smith.
* Golden State guard Stephen Curry said he disagreed with the NBA's decision to fine him $5,000 for violating the league's anti-flopping rules against the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
The league said that the NBA MVP exaggerated contact after his three-pointer with 3:07 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Warriors' 110-106 victory on Tuesday night. Curry made the shot and fell to the court after getting bumped by defender Terrence Jones.
* Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard of San Antonio was the leading vote-getter for the NBA's All-Defensive first team, where he was joined by Los Angeles Clippers teammates Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan.
Leonard received 116 first-team votes and 242 points from a panel of 129 writers and broadcasters in the U.S. and Canada. Golden State's Draymond Green was second with 229 points and 107 first-team votes. Memphis' Tony Allen was the other first team member.
* Denver said rookie center Jusuf Nurkic underwent surgery to fix a torn left patellar tendon.
The team did not give a timeline for his return.
Nurkic averaged 6.9 points and 6.1 rebounds in 2014-15. He was recently selected to the NBA all-rookie second team.