Cavaliers earn No. 2 seed in East with win over Bucks

Apr 19, 2007, 2:45 GMT

Cleveland, OH - LeBron James poured in 24 points and dished out nine assists as Cleveland cruised past Milwaukee, 109-96, in the regular season finale for both clubs at Quicken Loans Arena.

Sasha Pavlovic added 21 points and Donyell Marshall donated 14 off the bench for the for the Cavaliers (50-32), who won their final four games of the season. Cleveland earned the second seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs because the Chicago Bulls lost at New Jersey, 106-97 Wednesday night. The Cavaliers will face Washington in the first round of the playoffs, starting Sunday at 12:30 p.m. (et).

'We definitely proved that we are one of the better teams in the NBA by basically coming out and destroying teams,' James said.

Larry Hughes netted 13 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas ended with 10 for the Cavaliers, who swept the season series 4-0 with Milwaukee and beat the Bucks for a seventh straight time.

Earl Boykins scored 28 points and Ruben Patterson chipped in 19 for the Bucks (28-54), who have dropped eight straight at Cleveland. Charlie Bell posted 12, Maurice Williams 11 and Ersan Ilyasova 10 points in defeat.

Cleveland used a 24-10 burst -- led by Pavlovic's 11 points -- to surge to a 31-15 advantage late in the first quarter. Milwaukee scored the final seven points in the frame to get within nine.

The Bucks fired back in the second and took the lead at 47-46 on a pair of David Noel free throws with just under two minutes left. Anderson Varejao, though, capped the quarter with a dunk as the Cavaliers led 54-51 at the break.

After Williams drained a jumper to bring Milwaukee within one to start the third, Cleveland scored 10 straight points for a 64-53 edge with 8:12 remaining.

Eric Snow's three-point play concluded the quarter and the Cavaliers went into the fourth up 79-72.

Cleveland put the game away in the final frame with a 15-5 spurt early on for a 17-point cushion, while the Bucks were never able to mount any threat.

'We took care of business,' Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. 'They're a tough team because they have so many shooters and guys who can score.'

Game Notes

Cleveland shot 48.3 percent from the field, while Milwaukee finished 44.9 percent shooting...The Cavaliers dominated the glass, outrebounding the Bucks 53-30.

© 2007 The Sports Network

Game Notes

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