Williams, James lead Cavs to 8th straight win

CLEVELAND (AP) — Any ideas the Atlanta Hawks had of extending their seven-game winning streak ended quickly Saturday.

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers rolled to a 24-point lead early in the second period in winning their eighth straight game, 102-96 over the Hawks.

“That’s what we wanted to do,” said James, who scored 22 points as the Cavaliers upped their home record to 32-1. “We wanted to first protect home court like we’ve been able to do. We had a lot of energy.”

Too much energy for the Hawks, who were hoping to prove a point against the team with the best record in the NBA. Instead, it turned into an afternoon of frustration for Atlanta, which found itself behind 40-16 with 8:56 left in the second quarter.

Hawks coach Mike Woodson picked up technical fouls in the second and third periods and was ejected by official Joe Forte with 6:30 left in the third period. Mike Bibby and Josh Smith were also hit with technicals in the third period.

Woodson didn’t speak with reporters after the game, instead sending assistant coach Larry Drew to talk to the media.

Bibby, who was 6-for-15 from the field, said he was going to appeal the automatic fine that goes with being assessed a technical foul. Meanwhile, center Al Horford said the Hawks needed to be quiet.

“We shouldn’t even be talking to the refs,” Horford said. “We have to go out there and play. The Cavs are the best team in the league, so we need to go out and play. Until guys understand that, we’re going to be going through this.”

Mo Williams led the Cavaliers (56-13) with 24 points. He was 8-for-14 from the field, including 3-for-4 on 3-pointers, and made all five of his foul shots.

James played 40 minutes, hitting 9-for-21 from the field to go along with seven rebounds and five assists.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas passed the 10,000-career point mark in the first period when he hit two foul shots. James, Brad Daugherty and Austin Carr are the only other players in franchise history to reach 10,000 points in their careers.

The 7-foot-3 Ilgauskas missed the entire 1996-97 and 1999-2000 seasons and played in only 24 games in 2000-01 because of injuries to his feet.

“Obviously, if I had not missed so many years because of injuries, I would have had more points,” said Ilgauskas. “I consider myself lucky to still be playing basketball so I’ll take this one and not ask for too much.”

Ilgauskas scored 16 points Saturday and was given a standing ovation by the crowd when it was announced he had reached the milestone.