LeVert and Wade are expected to be out at least until Friday. The Hawks have no significant injuries.
The Hawks are 7-11 and have lost 4 of their last 5 despite getting De’Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic back from injury recently. The Hawks are 3-6 on the road while the Cavs are 10-0 at home. In their game on Monday the Hawks lost at home to Dallas (without Luka Doncic) 129-119.
The Hawks remind me of the Bulls in that they are both good offense/bad defense teams. The Bulls are slightly more so as they outscore the Hawks 117-115 but also give up more, 124 to 121. But they’re both teams that have talented scorers and weak defenses.
All-Star point guard Trae Young leads the Hawks with 22 points and 12 assists per game, but he’s shooting only 38% from the field and 33% on 3’s. He leads the NBA in assists. Jalen Johnson has a nice line of 19/10/5 and is shooting 47%. C Clint Capela averages 12 points and 8 boards, and this year’s #1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher is struggling at 39% overall and 25% on 3’s.
Off the bench De’Andre Hunter has only played in six games but is averaging 17.7 points. Bogdan Bogdanovic has only played in four games and has scored 16 and 18 in his last two games, but his shooting percentages are awful.
Dyson Daniels, a 6’7” Australian shooting guard, averages 14 points and leads the NBA in steals by a wide margin. From The Athletic:
Atlanta isn’t good, but Daniels is. He leads the NBA with 3.1 steals per game, is adding 1.0 blocks and 4.7 rebounds and is doing just enough offensively to return positive value. If Daniels ever can get his shooting to be league average, then he would be a star. In the meantime, he has an awesome nickname now (Great Barrier Thief).
The Hawks rank 10th in scoring and they like to attack the rim. They are 5th in points in the paint but 23rd in percentage of points coming on 3’s. They are well below average at both 3-point rate and accuracy. They play uptempo, ranking 5th in shot attempts per game and they get to the line a lot, ranking 9th in free throw attempts. They’re above average at fast break points and offensive rebounds. They turn the ball over a lot, ranking 21st in that category.
The Hawks have a tall lineup outside of the 6’1” Young. Daniels is 6’7” while Johnson, Risacher, and Hunter are 6’8”. Capella and his backup, Onyeka Okongwu, are 6’10”. It’s a tall team and they prefer to attack the rim in search of layups, dunks, and free throws. They’re 11th in offensive rebound percentage and 5th in second chance points. I assume they will try to post up Garland and Merrill at every opportunity and crash the offensive glass like Toronto.
The Cavs should try to keep them out of the paint and make them take outside shots and 3’s whenever possible, then get the rebound and not give up 19 offensive boards like they did against Toronto on Sunday. Also, force a lot of turnovers.
Defensively the Hawks are the third worst in scoring defense. They’re much better inside, ranking 9th in points allowed in the paint. They’re 9th in shot blocking. All that height allows them to protect the rim pretty well. But they are the worst at defending the 3-point shot; opponents are making a shade under 40%. So this will be the NBA’s best 3-point shooting team against the worst 3-point defending team.
The Hawks are average at defending 2’s and overall they rank 29th in opponents’ effective field goal percentage, another category where the Cavs rank 1st. The one thing the Hawks do really well defensively is steal the ball - they are 2nd in steals per possession, thanks in large part to the Great Barrier Thief. They are 5th in forcing turnovers, so the Cavs need to protect the ball, especially when Daniels is on the floor. If they can prevent steals they have a great chance of getting a bucket.
As bad as the Hawks are at defending 3’s the Cavs should get a lot of open looks. Hopefully Niang and Merrill have found their strokes after they went 1-for-14 on 3’s against Toronto.
The Hawks definitely have some guys who can fill it up but they’ve been giving up more than they’re scoring, so this could be a slugfest. Young and Risacher are both under 40% from the field, however.
If Dallas scored 129 on the Hawks on Monday without Luka the Cavs should be able to score 130 at home. Atlanta is a high energy team that scores in the paint, on fast breaks, and offensive rebounds. The Cavs need to bring energy because the Hawks will be playing at a high pace and attacking the rim and the offensive glass.
In the latest NBA power poll they rank 23rd. The comment:
The Hawks got healthier last week, with Bogdan Bogdanović playing for the first time since opening night. They beat his former team (the shorthanded Kings) in his return, but that was their only victory on a four-game trip.
Three takeaways:
Overall, the Hawks have lost five of their last seven games, with four of the five losses coming vs. the Bulls (x 2), Pistons and Blazers. They’ve played the league’s fifth easiest schedule in regard to cumulative opponent winning percentage, but are just 5-7 against other teams that currently have losing records.
De’Andre Hunter has been back for four of the last five games, but he continues to come off the bench behind No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher. The Hawks have outscored their opponents by 6.0 points per 100 possessions in 223 total minutes with the other four starters on the floor, but have been outscored by 9.8 per 100 in 593 minutes with at least one of the four off the floor.
Trae Young shot just 2-for-16 from 3-point range over the last three games of the road trip. His value has always been about his playmaking and free throws more than his shooting from the field and the Hawks have still been at their best offensively with him on the floor. But that on-court mark (112.4 points scored per 100 possessions) is below the league average and Young’s effective field goal percentage of 46.6% would be the lowest mark of his career.
Injury Report
CLEVELAND
Max Strus - OUT (ankle)
Emoni Bates - OUT (knee)
Dean Wade - OUT (ankle)
Caris LeVert - OUT (knee)
ATLANTA
Cody Zeller - OUT (personal)
Trae Young - QUESTIONABLE (achilles)
Seth Lundy - OUT (ankle)