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James, Cavaliers continue push for second seed

Apr 14, 2007 - 3:12 PM Atlanta (29-50) at Cleveland (47-32) 7:30 pm EDT

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Superstar LeBron James has taken matters into his own hands during the most important part of the season.

James and the Cleveland Cavaliers continue their push for the second seed in the Eastern Conference when they take on the shorthanded Atlanta Hawks on Saturday.

The Cavaliers (47-32) are one-half game behind Chicago (48-32) for the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. However, the Bulls own the tiebreaker, meaning the Cavaliers would drop to the fifth seed behind division winners Toronto (46-33) and Miami (44-36) should the clubs end the season in a tie.

James scored 15 of his 35 points in the third quarter of Cleveland's 94-76 victory over New Jersey on Thursday.

"Since LeBron has been in the league, I've never seen him post up with as much force as he did tonight (Thursday)," Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. "He decided to sit down with two feet in the paint and post up very strong and that was very fun to watch. That's something he is capable of doing almost every night."

The Hawks have lost nine of their last 11 contests, including a 98-85 defeat to Washington on Friday. Atlanta is without All-Star Joe Johnson, but is expected to have forward Josh Smith back from a two-game suspension.

The Hawks have won two of three meetings with the Cavaliers this season.