The Boston Celtics lost again, this time against the Atlanta Hawks as Jimmy Butler inspired the Chicago Bulls in the National Basketball Association.
The club announced after the game that it became the third team to overcome a deficit of at least 26 points in the fourth quarter and win.
Isaiah Thomas' 35 points were not enough for the Celtics, who allowed 71 points in the first half in Atlanta.
Fresh oxygen filled Boston's lungs after the loss, with the Celtics and Cavaliers now tied in the East.
The last time that the Cavaliers played the Hawks, Irving put on an absolute clinic going for 43 points, 9 assists and 4 steals in 36 minutes of action, and he will be looking to repeat the feat this Sunday. The four-time All-Star won't play Friday at Cleveland, missing his ninth game in the last 11, but he's expected to return to the starting lineup Sunday against the Cavs. It looked like the defending champions would cruise to a win and move a step closer to clinching the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Now their slumping at the wrong time and face Eastern Conference contenders the Heat and Raptors to finish the season.
Kyrie Irving completed a 45-point game for the Cavaliers with a meaningless basket at the buzzer. The Hawks (41-38) led by as many as 20 points.
LeBron James did not make a big deal out of it, but he wasn't overly excited about Cleveland's dominant win in Boston two days earlier, either.
Irving left the game in the third quarter and went to the locker room because of soreness in his surgically repaired left knee, but returned to the game in the fourth quarter.
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You gonna tell me they're not serious? You don't know nothing, just pretend you doI need something, so tell me something new. It should be that simple, right? In writing songs about stuff like that, I like tipping a hat to the time together .
True, there's rarely a boring moment in Cleveland, where every game seems to take the importance of a season, and where the city's hoop team is anatomized daily like a frog being dissected in a high school science lab.
32-year-old James is now leading his team in points per game (26.3), assists per game (8.7), and steals per game (1.2).
The Hawks, who sit in fifth a place in the east, started with Jose Calderon, Taurean Prince, Kris Humphries, Ersan Ilyasova and Tim Hardaway Jr.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are healthy, top-to-bottom. Cleveland remains the clear favorite in the East, but the defense has been problematic for much of the season and has been downright very bad since the All-Star break.
The Hawks still had six players score in double figures.
Mike Dunleavy added 20 for Atlanta and got a little revenge against the Cavs, who tossed him in as part of a trade for Kyle Korver in February. You have to play like that every single game. Kyrie Irving responded by making a pair of free-throws to extend Cleveland's lead back to five points. The Cavaliers rolled past Boston 114-91 on Wednesday for their fourth straight victory and have opened a 1 1/2-game lead over the Celtics with four contests remaining.
The Atlanta Hawks were no lock to make the playoffs when they took the court at Philips Arena on April 6 against the Celtics.
Neither of Boston's final two games will be easy. "I had some good conversation with the refs, and, you know, just a few plays that didn't go our way".
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