First game this year I felt the Cavs were humiliated. This is game 63 so I guess that says something. At least they fought back to within 13 points after being down by 34. If Cedi makes a 3 they're down 10 with 9 minutes to go. But he missed badly and the Hawks easily regained control and quickly pushed the lead back to 20.
In the first game Young was 1-for-7 and Murray was 4-for-17. I said in the preview these guys would want to get some respect back. Well, they did. They combined for 59 points and 17 assists.
That 49-point second quarter was a bitch slap. The Hawks made their first 15 shots of the quarter. I've never seen a team make 15 consecutive field goals against anybody, much less one of the top defenses in the NBA.
The Cavs consistently got beat down the floor for easy layups, lost track of players under the rim, and got sucked into the paint allowing uncontested corner 3's. Young toyed with them. You could tell he was not going to be held to a single field goal this time - far from it. He finished with 34 points on 15 shots and was 14-for-15 on free throws.
The Cavs bench was outscored 29-9 in the first half. I really feel like we have four solid players and everybody else is a mix of good and bad. The Hawks rolled to an easy win without starting PF John Collins. It didn't matter.
The Cavaliers did not make their first jump shot until nearly three minutes into the second quarter. They started 0-for-7 on 3's and also missed all their 2-point jumpers. All their first quarter points were at the rim or on free throws. Incredibly bad outside shooting, just like against Denver the night before.
The Hawks scored 108 points in the first three quarters - beyond embarassing. They were 18-for-22 in the second quarter, which had to be the worst quarter the Cavs have played in years, if not ever.
The Hawks got Saddiq Bey from Detroit to give them more 3-point shooting and he was 5-for-8 on 3's and finished with 20 points in 28 minutes. Okongwu came off the bench for 13 points and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes, along with 2 steals and 3 blocks. Our bench is pretty much a joke. Cedi and Stevens played well (+9 and +8), but that was it. Neto did a solid job.
Hopefully this game will embarass the Cavs to the point where they come out with a lot more fire from now on. But right now they look kind of lost. The defensive breakdowns leading to uncontested dunks and wide open 3's were alarming. Just when this team got healthy they stumbled coming out of the break. This next game against Toronto at home will be huge. The Cavs are 0-3 against the Raptors and Toronto is on a roll.
