After a rare three-day break the 12-7 Cavaliers hit the road for a rematch with the 11-8 Atlanta Hawks. The Cavs beat the Hawks in Cleveland nearly a month ago by a 117-109 score. The Cavs were without Garland, Allen, and Merrill in that game. The Hawks were without Trae Young and he will also miss this one. This game will be an NBA Cup game and at 1-1 the Cavs need to win to have a chance to advance as a wild card.
The Hawks are 3-4 at home against 8-4 on the road, so for some reason they’re having problems on their home court. A bigger concern is that they are 7-1 against teams below .500 but just 4-7 against teams .500 and above.
They got blown out in their last game by the 1-15 Wizards. The Hawks gave up 77 points in the first half and lost 132-113. They were down by 33 after 3 quarters. They had their normal starters on the floor so it appears they didn’t take the Wizards seriously. CJ McCollum, age 34, lit them up for 46 points. He averages 3 made 3-pointers per game but he made 10 of 13 against the Hawks.
The Hawks appear to be a mediocre team as they rank 17th in scoring and 15th in scoring defense. They shoot well, ranking 7th in effective field goal percentage. The reason they don’t score more is they don’t get to the free throw line much (26th) and they don’t get a lot offensive boards and 2nd chance points (27th).
The Hawks are very unselfish, ranking 1st in assists per possession. They’re 10th in points in the paint and 17th in 3-point rate, so they prefer to go inside. They rank 7th in 2-point field goal percentage and 11th in 3-point percentage.
Jalen Johnson is their best player with a slash line of 22/10/7 on 55% from the field and 39% on 3’s. Kristaps Porzingis averages 19 points as does Nickiel Alexander-Walker. (How long does it take NAW to sign autographs?)
Zach Risacher and Dyson Daniels round out the starting lineup averaging 12 and 10 points. Onyeka Okongwu is having a nice year off the bench averaging 16 points and 7 rebounds on 52% overall and 41% on 3’s. I wanted him in the 2020 draft but the Cavs took Okoro at #5 and Okongwu went to Atlanta with the next pick.
The Hawks have a couple of 3-point snipers off the bench in Vit Krejci and Luke Kennard, shooting 49% and 44% on 3’s, respectively.
The Hawks are averaging 117 ppg but the Cavs held them to 109 in the first meeting.
Defensively the Hawks are average, ranking 15th in scoring defense. They do a nice job defending shots as they rank 7th in opponents’ effective field goal percentage, 7th in block percentage (mostly due to Porzingis), and 6th in forcing turnovers. The one area where they are below average is rebounding where they rank 24th on the defensive glass.
They are better defending 3’s (7th) than 2’s (14th) and they’re 19th in points in the paint despite their high block percentage. So I would attack the rim if I were the Cavs, especially when Kristaps is down. He has 29% of their blocks. He averages 26 minutes per game, just over half.
Opponents obviously feel it’s better to attack the rim as the Hawks defend the 5th highest percentage of shots at the rim. The success rate at the rim is not great but it’s higher than in the mid-range or on 3’s.
The Hawks have a lot of length as Porzingis is 7’2”, Okongu is 6’10”, Johnson, Risacher, and Krejci are 6’8”, Daniels is 6’7”, and Kennard and KAW are 6’5”. That’s probably why they are very good at defending 3’s, but you’d think they’d be better than 24th and 26th at defensive and offensive rebound percentage. For the most part they’re long and skinny, like the Cavs. Rebounding is more about strength than length.
Hunter and Garland were rested on Monday so they will be back with four days off. Allen is listed as probable, Merrill is out, and Wade and CPJ are listed as game time decisions. Getting three starters back in Allen, Garland, and Hunter is not a bad thing.
The ESPN Power Index has the Cavs ranked 3rd and the Hawks 11th. The CBS Sports power rankings have the Cavs 10th and the Hawks 14th.
The Hawks are 4-7 against teams over .500 and they are 3-4 at home, so the Cavs should be able to come out of this with a win, especially having three days to rest up. The Hawks have been off for two days so we’ll see who can better shake off the soporific effects of a big turkey dinner by game time.
Injury Report
CLEVELAND
Dean Wade - QUESTIONABLE (knee)
Craig Porter Jr - QUESTIONABLE (hamstring)
Jarrett Allen - PROBABLE (finger)
Sam Merrill - OUT (wrist)
Max Strus - OUT (foot)
ATLANTA
Trae Young - OUT (knee)