James is King of the Court in Atlanta

LeBron James' 43-point performance in Friday's 106-85 win over the Atlanta Hawks was so sublime even his coach had to sit back at a certain point and just marvel.

It had the quality of turning the home fans' boos into cheers and breaking the opposing team's spirit.

James made all eight of his field goal attempts in the first half and missed two of his last three shots - without playing at all in the fourth quarter — and still finished 16 for 21, including 5-of-7 on three-pointers.

Said James, perhaps immodestly but truthfully, "When my jump shot is on, there's really nothing you can do about it defensively."

He didn't really find a dissenting opinion in Hawks coach Larry Drew.

"He made shots over the top, he made shots at the three, he made shots beyond the three," Drew said, "and we didn't recover from that. Mentally, it really stymied us."

Since a recent five-game losing streak that sent the tongues of the Heat's critics a-wagging, Miami is on a bit of a rampage. They have won four out of five, including that perhaps season-changing victory over the Lakers on March 10. Then they crushed Memphis, five games above .500, by 33; demolished league-leading San Antonio by 30 points and, after stubbing their collective toe with a loss at Oklahoma City on Wednesday, have now trounced Atlanta, fifth in the Eastern Conference.

"Us, we're just finding our niche now," James said of the difference in the Heat's play since the losing streak. "We just got back to playing Miami Heat basketball and it's defending . . . When we get stops, we're a pretty good team. We give ourselves a chance to win."

In the third quarter alone, James totaled 23 points.

"Clearly some things were happening in the second half that everyone will point to and that is what makes LeBron special," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

In playing all 12 minutes of the third quarter, James made 8-of-13 shots, including 3-of-5 three-pointers, and 4-of-5 free throws. What made James' showing so impressive was almost all of his points came on jump shots. His first four baskets in the quarter came on shots of 19, 25, 23 and 22 feet. Then he made two fast-break baskets and finished with jumpers of 20 and 22 feet.

Spoelstra, who was playing his college ball at the University of Portland at the time, equated the performance to Michael Jordan's in the 1992 NBA finals against the Portland Trailblazers when Jordan made six three-pointers and famously shrugged after burying one of them.

Spoelstra called James' shooting display a 'barrage,' but said his favorite play of James' in the quarter was when he drove to the basket and earned a 3-point play.

"That's part of LeBron's greatness," he said of the hot shooting streak. ". . . But after making all of those plays and jumpers and threes to have the maturity - and that's what we talked about, to continue to work our game and get to the free throw line, which he did on that possession . . . but certainly when he went on that stretch sometimes you have to sit back and let those guys do that."

At one point, James off-handedly referred to the outing as a 50-point effort. Asked if he were disappointed at not playing in the fourth, he said he was just happy to see his teammates from the bench continue their strong play.

A fair number of Heat fans made their way to Philips Arena among the 20,024 and as the Heat took over the game, the Hawks' fans were silenced, and the Heat fans made themselves heard.

"It's fun," James said of the phenomenon. "It's very enjoyable."

For its part, Atlanta, which once led this game 15-10, seems locked into fifth in the East. Drew sat most of his starters for the fourth quarter.

What was most troublesome, however, was the Hawks' loss of composure. At one point, Hawks forward Marvin Williams (team-high 15 points) was thrown to the floor after a shot in the lane, but no call was forthcoming.

When the Hawks were called for a defensive foul on the ensuing possession at the following end for much less contact, Hawks forward Josh Smith, sitting on the bench, began animatedly jawing with an official.

Hawks center Al Horford called the loss 'very disappointing.' After a four-game losing streak, the Hawks seemed to right their ship with two straight wins, but they now have lost two in a row again.

"We are going through a slump," Horford said, "and I feel like we've been going on it for a few weeks, so we have to hang tough and just try to figure it out by the next game."