ATLANTA -- A hot-shooting night has the Atlanta Hawks back in sole possession of a playoff spot. cheap jerseys . Poor shooting cost the Cleveland Cavaliers in a game they desperately needed. Mike Scott ended a scoring slump with 26 points and the Hawks beat Cleveland 117-98 on Friday night in a costly setback for the Cavaliers late-season playoff push. Atlanta moved one game ahead of the New York Knicks, who lost to Washington 90-89, in the race for the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks had lost seven of eight but recovered with strong games by Scott and Jeff Teague, who had 20 points and 12 assists. "All year and under a lot of difference circumstances weve said we like our group and theyre resilient," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "They played with a lot of focus and effort and attention to detail and all the things we really talk about every night." Cavaliers coach Mike Brown was unhappy to see his team struggle with so much on the line. "They kicked our behind from the beginning to the end," Brown said. The Cavaliers lost an opportunity to move within a game of eighth place. Entering the game, Cleveland had won five of six but fell three games behind the Hawks with only five games remaining in the regular season. Brown was discouraged but stopped short of saying the Cavaliers couldnt recover from the loss. "No, it doesnt feel like its over but the loss is very, very disappointing," Brown said. "The way we lost it looked like we werent playing for much out there." Dion Waiters led Cleveland with 23 points. Spencer Hawes had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Kyrie Irving and Luol Deng each had 13 points. Scott made 12 of 13 shots from the field. The backup forward had a combined 16 points in his past four games. He topped that with 18 in the first half. "Finally," Scott said. "I was in a little shooting slump. I just kept being aggressive and kept getting extra shots and they finally fell." The Hawks set a season high with 39 first-quarter points, made 58.5 per cent of their shots from the field and never trailed. Atlanta led 39-23 after the first period. "The start that we got off to was something that was important," Budenholzer said. "Defensively, I thought we had a good first quarter. I think that kind of fueled our offence and our ball movement a little bit, taking care of the ball. That gave us the cushion that we were able to keep the rest of the game." The Hawks had 35 assists, three away from their season high. The Cavaliers made only 5 of 21 3-pointers and shot 39.6 per cent from the field overall while playing from behind the full game. "They jumped on us early," said Clevelands Jarrett Jack, who had nine points. "They dictated how this game was going to be played. We were playing an uphill battle all game." The Hawks had six 3-pointers in the big first quarter and 13 for the game. Atlanta committed nine turnovers in the second quarter, but Cleveland still outscored the Hawks only 26-22 in the period and trailed 61-49 at halftime. As Cleveland opened the second half going almost five minutes without a field goal, Teague took over for Atlanta. Teague had nine points in the third period, including three straight baskets and a driving layup to beat the buzzer at the end of the period. Teague added two 3-pointers in the last 3 minutes as the Cavaliers never mounted a serious challenge. Paul Millsap had 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for the Hawks. Lou Williams also had 16 points and six assists. NOTES: The Hawks completed a sweep of the three-game series. ... After missing one game with a sore right shoulder, Cavs C Anderson Varejao had nine points and five rebounds in 27 minutes. ... Irving played his second game after missing eight games with a torn bicep muscle. ... Hawes had 13 points in the third period. jerseys from china . Stairs, who holds the major-league record with 23 pinch-hit home runs, was a disappointment for the Nationals. The 43-year-old batted just .154 with two RBIs in 56 games. He was 6 for 39 as a pinch hitter. cheap nfl jerseys .C. -- Unable to get much lift off his sore right ankle, Bobcats centre Al Jefferson figured it was time to make an adjustment.New York Islanders 3 Winnipeg Jets 2 OT (Jets 30-26-7, home 15-11-5) – With the point, the Jets moved to within one point of Dallas for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, but also find Phoenix tied with them, as the Coyotes beat Vancouver. Andrew Ladd opened the scoring, his 16th of the season. The goal coming off a faceoff with Bryan Little picking up the assist. Colin McDonald tied the game late in the period and the first period ended 1-1, the Islanders outshooting the Jets 13-9. New York took the lead early in the second with Andres Lee scoring. Lee went in on a breakaway but was stopped by Ondrej Pavelec, however Lee batted the rebound out of mid-air and after video review the call on the ice stood. Shots in the second were 17-7 in favour of the Jets but they could not beat Anders Nilsson. Jets did tie the game at 14:53 of the third, Ladd scored on a breakaway for his second of the game and 17th of the year. Olli Jokinen had the only assist, the goal coming with the teams playing four on four. The Jets pressed and had some chances but despite outshooting the Islanders 11-5 in the period, it was off to overtime. Jets again had the better chances before Michael Grabner scored on a breakaway to end it. The goal coming at 3:51 of overtime. Ladd has now scored five goals in his last six games and six goals in the last 10 games. Zach Bogosian led the Jets in ice time at 26:22. Since the arrival of Paul Maurice, Bogosian is the leader in average ice time at over 25 minutes per game. He also led thee Jets in shots on goal with six, tying a season high. wholesale nfl jerseys. Final shots on goal were 38-27. Another turning point in the game was the Jets going zero-for-five on the power play. The Jets also lost Mark Scheifele with a lower body injury, after he went knee on knee with Calvin de Haan. De Haan received a two minute tripping penalty on the play. Scheifele will be further evaluated Wednesday. Chris Thorburn was also shaken up after a first period fight with Matt Martin. The Islanders traded Andrew MacDonald earlier in the day, and scratched Thomas Vanek, the expectation being that Vanek will be traded as well. For Paul Maurice it was his 1100th regular season game as an NHL coach, and he had this to say about the game. "We came out very tight. I dont have the answers for you as to why. We did not take that team lightly. Youve got almost a group of guys that at times you wonder if they care too much, they really do. You could feel it tighten as they went. A lot of strange plays with the puck out there that I dont have an answer for how it happened. The power play was tight and things that are easy to do, werent. Wed relax, the chatter would pick up and wed play better. Handling all this and the injury is the challenge now. Our brains were going a hundred miles per hour and our feet were not. So we take this point, five of six since the break and move on. We werent winning our last 21 games." Jets play host to Los Angeles Thursday (TSN 1290), and Ottawa Saturday afternoon (TSN 1290). wholesale nfl jerseyswholesale jerseys ' ' '
