Lebron leads streaking Cavaliers past Hawks
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Cleveland Cavaliers rolled to their ninth win in 10 games on Saturday with a 110-96 victory over the visiting Atlanta Hawks.
LeBron James scored 24 points, 19 in the second half, to help the Central Division leaders (10-3) get back on track after Wednesday's loss at Detroit. He also had eight assists and seven rebounds in Cleveland's seventh consecutive win at home this season without a loss.
James revved up the Cavaliers in the fourth quarter by slamming home an emphatic dunk with 6:29 left after the Hawks trimmed a 28-point lead to 11.
"Sometimes you want to get the momentum going your way," James, who had 11 points in the quarter, told reporters.
Guard Mo Williams added 23 points and Delonte West had 19.
West began the game with a three-pointer and his nine points helped the Cavs break out to an 18-point lead as he continued to adjust to his move from point guard to shooting guard.
"I've really embraced the situation and I'm getting more comfortable," West told reporters. "I think mentally I wanted to be a lead guard so much because that was always the knock on me that I couldn't run the point.
"It's starting to come easy now," he added.
Atlanta, which dropped to 8-5, was led by Maurice Evans with 21 points and Acie Law with 20.
"We came off the back-to-back (wins), and we just didn't bring that energy," Evans told reporters. "Our start hurt us because you can't give good teams any momentum, otherwise you're just digging your own hole, and we did that."
(Writing by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
