National Basketball Association

Cavs clamp down on Hawks

Published Dec. 30, 2009 4:06 a.m. ET

foxsports

The Cleveland Cavaliers held Atlanta scoreless for almost nine minutes to open the fourth quarter and scored the first 10 points of the period to break open a close game and beat the Hawks 95-84 on Tuesday night.

Mo Williams had 20 points to lead the Cavaliers, who won in their return to Philips Arena since completing a dominant four-game sweep of the Hawks in the second round of last season's playoffs.

Delonte West had 17 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 15 off Cleveland's bench. LeBron James had 14 points, 10 assists and five steals but made only 6 of 20 shots from the field.

The Hawks were outscored 20-10 in the fourth quarter.

The Cavaliers led 75-74 entering the final period and stretched the lead to 85-74 before Josh Smith finally ended the Hawks' drought that lasted 8:48 by scoring with 3:12 remaining. The Hawks were 0 for 10 from the field in the period before the basket.

Frustrations grew on the Atlanta bench during the long scoreless streak. Hawks coach Mike Woodson was called for a technical foul by official Leroy Richardson after complaining about a foul call against Smith with 7:55 remaining in the game.

With 4:40 remaining, Woodson looked to the scorer's table and asked, "Have we scored this period?" He smiled sadly when his fears were confirmed.

The Hawks' agony continued as Joe Johnson, who scored 15 points, missed a free throw. Jamal Crawford, who led Atlanta with 26 points, then missed two free throws with 4:08 remaining.

Crawford scored 17 of the Hawks' 25 points in the second period, including his third 3-pointer of the period only 2 seconds before halftime. But the Cavaliers beat the Hawks on another fast-break basket, with James scoring at the buzzer on a pass from Jamario Moon.

The basket gave James only seven points in the half.

Smith drew his second foul with 1:24 remaining in the opening period and played only 3 minutes in the second period. He had 15 points and eight rebounds.

NOTES: The attendance was 20,150 to set a Philips Arena regular-season record. ... The teams play again Wednesday night in Cleveland. ... Ilgauskas passed Brad Daugherty for second place on Cavaliers' all-time scoring list. He needed five points for 10,390 to pass Daugherty.