King James & Cavs rule

THE King and his royal court rule.

LeBron James and five of his teammates scored in twin digits as the Cleveland Cavaliers shellacked the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks, 118-88, in Game Four yesterday to register a four-game sweep of the best-of-seven Eastern playoff final series and reach the National Basketball Association Finals for only the second time since joining the pro league in 1970-71.

The first Finals stint came in 2007 during LeBron’s first tour of duty. And it ended with a disappointment as the Cavs were whitewashed, 4-0, by Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs in the title round.

Now, James is back in the Finals for a fifth consecutive year (the past four with the Miami Heat and resulted in championships in 2012 and 2013) in the first year of his second of tour duty in Wine City.

After a grueling 47-minute work in Game Three where he chalked up the 12th triple-double of his distinguished NBA tenure, the 6-foot-8 James played just 29 minutes in the runaway series-clincher and came up with 23 points (on an efficient 10-for-20 field clip), nine rebounds and seven assists.

More importantly, his teammates proved they were not simply bystanders who were just riding off his back in their quest for a Finals berth for the first time in eight years. At least for Game Four, they somewhat got James’ back.

Mercurial Earl (J.R.) Smith III (18 points and 10 rebounds) and starting power forward Tristan Thompson (16 points and 11 rebounds) each had a double-double and All-Star Kyrie Irving was back in the starting lineup after missing the last two games with persistent tendinitis in his left knee and came up with 16 scores and five assists in 22 minutes), 7-foot-1 Russian center Timofey Mozgov netted 14 points, seven boards and three blocks and pesky Australian guard Matthew Dellavedova, who started during Irving’s absence, came off the pines to contribute 10 markers in 17 minutes.

Even first-string backcourter Iman Shumpert, who along with Smith (an ex-New York teammate) and Mozgov (from Denver) was acquired by the Cavs in midseason trades, did his part. He produced his team’s best plus/minus rating while on the floor with plus 27 (Mozgov was plus 23, Thompson plus 22 and LeBron plus 20) and got three points, eight boards and four dimes in 36 minutes.

For good measure, rookie Cleveland head coach David Blatt even emptied his bench to give several seldom-used benchwarmers with championship pedigree – Kendrick Perkins, Brendan Haywood (he played his first playoff game this season), Shawn Marion and Mike Miller – some exposure in the series-clincher against the Hawks.

James averaged 30.3 points, 11.0 rebounds and 9.3 assists in the abbreviated four-game series vs. Atlanta.

For the Hawks, who posted an all-time franchise-best 60 victories to finish with the best regular record in the East, injuries and bad luck struck the team heavily in the East finals. Top playoff scorer DeMarre Carroll was injured in the series opener, Kyle Korver went down in Game Two that will necessitate right ankle surgery on May 27 (May 28, Manila time) and center Al Horford was ejected in Game Three for a Flagrant-2 foul.

Carroll made it back for the remainder of the series, Korver sat out the third and fourth games and while Horford avoided NBA suspension for his Game Three elbowing transgression, the 6-foot-10 Dominican Republic native was missing in action in the series finale with just two points (on a 1-for-6 field clip) and two rebounds (he dished out five assists, though).

Atlanta thus became the 70th team in NBA history to be swept in a best-of-seven playoff series after trailing 0-3.

No NBA team has ever rallied from 0-3 deficit to capture a best-of-seven. Before this postseason, 0-3 clubs were 0-116. Atlanta and Houston became the 117th and 118th clubs to fall behind 3-0 during the ongoing conference finals. This marked the first time that both conference final series with a best-of-seven format have been 0-3 after three games.

Houston, however, staved off quick elimination when the Rockets blasted the Golden State Warriors, 128-115, at home in Game Four of the West finals behind a playoff career-high 45 points from Most Valuable Player runner-up James Harden.

The Warriors, who own the homecourt advantage through the playoffs after registering an all-time franchise-best and league-leading 67 victories during the regulars, will look to oust the Rockets for a second time when they host Game Five today (Manila time) at the Oracle Arena.

League MVP Stephen Curry, who sustained a head injury in the second quarter of Game Three but subsequently returned to action, has gotten a clean bill of health and will play. Houston center Dwight Howard also will be in uniform after evading an NBA suspension following a Flagrant-1 foul called against him in the fourth game for hitting his Golden State counterpart Andrew Bogut in the head.

(Had the league upgraded Howard’s penalty to flagrant 2, Howard would be automatically suspended for one game due to the previous flagrant foul points he has accumulated in the playoffs. The NBA contended that Howard did not make contact with Bogut with an elbow but with the back of his hand and thus saw no reason to upgrade Howard’s penalty.)

Houston is 4-0 in the current playoffs when facing elimination. The Rockets beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 4-3, in the West semifinal series after trailing 3-1.

The best-of-seven NBA Finals will get underway on June 4 (June 5, Manila time). The opener will be held on the home floor of the Golden State-Houston series winner. Game Two, which will be played on June 8 (Manila time), will also be hosted by the Warriors or Rockets.

Cleveland, an NBA finalist for only the second time in its franchise existence, finished with a 53-29 record during the regular season. Golden State owned a 67-15 card and Houston was 56-26.

The 2015 NBA Finals will employ a 2-2-1-1-1 format for the second straight year after having a 2-3-2 scheme from 1985 to 2013.