Cleveland Cavaliers crush Atlanta Hawks to reach NBA Finals

The Cleveland Cavaliers have secured a place in the NBA Finals for just the second time in the team's history with an emphatic 118-88 win over the Atlanta Hawks in game four of the Eastern Conference finals.

Knowing that victory would give the home side a 4-0 series win, the Cavaliers made a strong start to the clash, with Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert both adding a run of early points to give the team a 12-point lead by the end of the first quarter.

Paul Millsap and Jeff Teague tried to close the gap early in the second quarter, but Cleveland managed to extend their advantage further before the break.

LeBron James and Tristan Thompson continued to add the points in the second half as the Hawks struggled with their shooting accuracy, taking almost three minutes to find the basket after the restart.

With Cleveland 25 points up heading into the fourth quarter, the home side rested several of their starters, allowing James Jones and Matthew Dellavedova to add some points late on.

The Cavaliers will face the winner of the Western Conference finals between Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets in the Finals next month.