Cavaliers continue cruising along

While the rest of the NBA exchanges elbows, flagrant fouls and menacing stares in the playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers are looking for a fight.

So far, they can’t find one.

LeBron James scored 27 points, ending the first and second quarters with last-second baskets, and Mo Williams had 15 points as the host Cavaliers overpowered the Atlanta Hawks, 105-85, on Thursday night to open a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal.

Now a perfect 6-0 in the postseason, the Cavaliers tied a league record by winning their sixth consecutive playoff game by double digits. The only other team to do it was the 2004 Indiana Pacers.

Maurice Evans scored 16 points and Mike Bibby had 11 for the Hawks, who were missing center Al Horford and forward Marvin Williams because of injuries. If that wasn’t bad enough, leading scorer Joe Johnson rolled his right ankle in the third quarter and did not return.

X-rays were negative, and the Hawks said Johnson is doubtful for Game 3 on Saturday in Atlanta.

In his second game since being named league most valuable player, James made a long three-pointer in the final second of the first half as the Cavaliers opened a 24-point lead that swelled to 36 in the third. James and the Cavaliers’ starters spent the entire fourth quarter lounging on the bench as Atlanta’s reserves outplayed the Cavaliers’ backups in 12 minutes of garbage time.

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Orlando Magic guard Rafer Alston was suspended for one game by the NBA because he slapped Boston Celtics guard Eddie House on the back of the head in the Magic’s 112-94 loss on Wednesday night. House was celebrating after making a shot when Alston reached out and struck him. Alston will have to sit out Game 3 of the teams’ playoff series tonight at Orlando. . . . The New Orleans Hornets are sticking with Coach Byron Scott for at least one more season. Team President Hugh Weber said the franchise was disappointed by its first-round exit from the playoffs but that the entire organization shares responsibility.