James and Korver lead undermanned Cavs to 123-107 win over Hawks

LeBron James recorded his second straight triple-double and Kyle Korver scored a season-high 30 points, including four straight 3-pointers to close the third period, as the undermanned Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Atlanta Hawks 123-107 on Friday night at Philips Arena in Atlanta.

From start to finish, Cleveland played with terrific energy on both ends of the floor. Their hot shooting from deep — 15-of-35 — played a key role in their victory tonight. Although Tyronn Lue only turned to eight guys tonight, Cleveland came up with one of their best performances in 2018. While it was against a struggling Hawks’ squad, Cleveland hadn’t played this complete of a game in a while.

LeBron James finished with 22 points, 17 rebounds, and 12 assists in 40 minutes. He tied his career high in assists, last reached on Dec. 12 against these same Hawks.

Kyle Korver, the former Hawks fan favorite, made 7 of 13 from 3-point range and torched his former team with a season-high 30 points on seven 3-pointers. Jeff Green poured in 24 points and Tristan Thompson contributed 10 points and 11 rebounds. Jose Calderon, Lue's point guard for most of the winning streak in November and December, started and contributed 11 points and five rebounds.

Cedi Osman, a 22-year-old rookie making his first NBA start (he previously played professionally in Turkey), registered career highs in points (16), rebounds (six), assists (five) and minutes (39).As James said after the Cavs’ last game, Osman’s energy on both ends of the floor is infectious

The Cavs at the NBA Trade Deadline on Thursday acquired Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr., George Hill and Rodney Hood and shipped away Isaiah Thomas, Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, Jae Crowder, Iman Shumpert and Channing Frye. None of the new acquisitions were in uniform against the Hawks, but they are expected to make their debuts with Cleveland on Sunday in Boston.

The team planned a practice on Saturday to begin what coach Tyronn Lue said would be a re-introduction of the offense and defense.

”It can be good for us offensively and defensively, starting all over and breaking everything down from scratch will be good for this team,” Lue said. ”Even guys who have been here, I think it will be good. It will take some time to do that but we’ve got the All-Star break coming up. … We’ll try to get those guys up to speed as quickly as possible.”

The Hawks, well, they fell to 17-39. They were playing on the second night of back-to-back games. Dennis Schroder led them with 25 points.

COMING UP FOR THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: The Cleveland Cavaliers (32-22) will now travel to Boston for an nationally televised Eastern Conference showdown on Sunday against the Boston Celtics. They will likely have all four of their new players active against Boston. Tip-off is set for 3:30 pm.