CLEVELAND -- This was not exactly what the Cleveland Cavaliers imagined while heading toward the playoffs.

Nor could the Atlanta Hawks have imagined picking up a half-game on the Milwaukee Bucks for the East's fifth seed this way.

The Hawks did not play any of their usual starters against LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, and still managed a 114-100 win over Cleveland on Friday night.

"Obviously a bad performance," Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. "There's really no other explanation."

Paul Millsap, Kent Bazemore, Dwight Howard and Dennis Schroder were held out to rest after a 123-116 win over Boston on Thursday. Thabo Sefolosha (right groin strain) continued to be sidelined, and Atlanta didn't want to play Millsap or Bazemore on consecutive nights after recent bout with injuries.

And yet Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 22 points and former Cav Mike Dunleavy added 20 off the bench for the Hawks. Atlanta had six players score in double figures and shot 50.6 percent from the field. The Hawks (41-38) led by as many as 20 points.

"It was a great feeling but we have to do it again on Sunday," Hardaway said. "We're not going to be happy about this. We know we have to see them on Sunday. They're going to come after us."

The two franchises play again Sunday in Atlanta.

The Cavs' four-game winning streak was snapped in stunning fashion. Two days ago, the same Cavs team steamrolled the Celtics in Boston. Now, Cleveland's lead in the East is down to one game over Boston with three to play.

"To beat Boston and have the game that we had and to come back and not validate it against a team that didn't even play their guys," Lue said. "I didn't think we respected them tonight. I thought we thought we'd just mess around with the game until it was time to knuckle down. By that time they already had confidence. That's who we've been. That's who we are. I hate it."

James scored 27 points to go with eight rebounds and seven assists for the Cavs (51-28). Irving added 18 points, and Love contributed 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Cleveland still lost. At home. To the Hawks' JV team.

Irving left the game in the third quarter and went to the locker room because of soreness in his surgically repaired left knee, but returned to the game in the fourth quarter. He took one shot in the final frame.

"Just after halftime my left knee just started kind of flaring up," Irving said. "Yesterday just was a terrible day for me and my knee. But I did everything possible just to recover and just come in today and felt good. And then after halftime just coming in and sitting down for 15 minutes and trying to get back going, started feeling it. But I'll be all right."

Coach Mike Budenholzer said before the game that Schroder (right mid-foot sprain) would play and start against the Cavs, but after his pregame remarks the Hawks announced that both Schroder and Howard were out, too.

The Cavs had beaten the Hawks 12 of the last 13 games, including the 2015 and 2016 playoffs.

"These guys are an incredible group," Budenholzer said of the Cavs. "They have had an incredible run the last three or more years. They will be ready when it is most important."

NOTES: Cavs C Tristan Thompson (sprained right thumb) missed his second consecutive game. Coach Tyronn Lue had no timetable for his return but said he wanted Thompson to play again before the regular season ends if possible. ... Lue said he will rest G Kyrie Irving and F LeBron James before the playoffs but not until the Cavs clinched the East. ... The last time these teams played, on March 3 in Atlanta, the Cavs set an NBA record by making 25 3-pointers (on 46 attempts). Cleveland was 2 of 14 from 3-point range in the first quarter on Friday.