King James holds court in Eastern Conference playoffs

Agence France-Presse

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The triumph gave the Cavaliers a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-final series, which Cleveland reached with a four-game sweep of Detroit.

James, also known as King James, improved on his previous high of 38 points in this postseason and was just one shy of his career playoff best of 48.

"The second half, we basically put the ball in LeBron's hands," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. "He took the ball and put it in his hands, and he said he was going to score for us."

"I said, 'OK,'" Brown said. "I told everybody else, 'Let's defend.'"

The Hawks, routed in the first two games in Cleveland, battled hard but didn't have enough to prevent the Cavs from notching their record-setting seventh straight double-digit playoff victory.

They had matched the record of six established by Indiana in 2004.

Atlanta trailed by just one point at halftime, and engineered a 13-0 scoring run in the third quarter that saw them take the lead. They were hurt, however, by the ejection of Zaza Pachulia, for arguing a foul call.

"I thought it was an offensive foul," Pachulia said. "Maybe I overreacted."

Of course they were also hurt by James, whose running basket at the end of the third gave Cleveland a 72-65 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

In addition to his scoring output, James handed out eight assists and had a game-high 12 rebounds as Cleveland out-rebounded Atlanta 46-23.

He exited the game with 44 seconds left to cheers from the contingent of Cavs fans in attendance.

James finished 15-of-25 from the field with five 3-pointers.

"He's not the MVP for nothing," Pachulia said. "He's the best player in the league. He knows when to push the gas. That's what he did," said Pachulia. The Cavs now need just one win.