The Atlanta Hawks beat up LeBron James and beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 106-97 on Friday night to prove why they are the best team in the Eastern Conference. Considered the league’s best player, James settled for just 18 points on 5-of-13 shooting and had 9 of his team’s 17 turnovers no thanks to Atlanta’s stingy defence all night long.

On offence, big man Al Horford led the charge with 19 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists as five other Hawks finished in double-figure scoring. All-Stars Paul Millsap and Jeff Teague both had 16 points each and Dennis Schroder had another good game to contribute 15 points and Mike Scott also added 14 points off the bench.

The Hawks took flight early and led 36-19 after the opening quarter but Cleveland made a game out of it by trailing by just two points entering the payoff period. Kyrie Irving finished with 20 markers but like James, had trouble taking care of the ball with 5 turnovers. Kevin Love had 14 points (4/10 FGs) and J.R. Smith had 12 points (4/11 FGs). As a team, the Cavaliers just shot 29-of-69 from the field (42.0%) compared to the Hawks which drained 43-of-84 field goals (51.2%).

Atlanta made a 10-2 run to start the fourth quarter and was never really threatened from that point on as the advantaged ballooned to double-digits. The Hawks have now won six straight to race to the best record not only in the conference but the entire league. At 49-12, they are half a game ahead of the Golden State Warriors (48-12), the leaders out West.

Cleveland dropped to 39-25 and the fourth place in the East. James admitted post-game that the Hawks pressure defence caught him and the team by surprise but said that when they face the Hawks in the future, perhaps in the postseason, the Cavaliers will be more prepared.

Cleveland has now lost three of their last five games with three tough games ahead against West teams. They host the Phoenix Suns next before traveling to take on the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs. Conversely, Atlanta has a chance to stretch their winning streak with easy games against the Philadelphia 76ers, Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets in their next three games.

To contact author of this article, email j.quizon@IBTimes.com.au.

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