The Hawks downed the Cavaliers 112-101 on Wednesday at State Farm Arena in the second night of back-to-back games.
Here are five observations:
1. The Hawks needed plenty of people to step up and the whole team came through.
Like their win over the Knicks on Tuesday, the Hawks gave up a 20-plus point lead. They allowed the Cavaliers to get back into the game and take a lead by the end of the third. But like one night ago, the Hawks didn’t panic.
They made the right stops by being in the right place at the right time, forcing Caris LeVert to lose the ball out of bounds, as well as picking him off minutes later.
The Hawks held the Cavaliers to just six field goals, while forcing 11 missed 3s. The 12 points allowed in the fourth quarter are the fewest points they have given up in any quarter this season.
“I thought we did a pretty good job in transition,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “And everybody rebounded. So that’s a huge thing. If you can get a defensive rebound, you got a chance to convert, but I thought we were connected.”
2. The Hawks converted on plenty of their stops with Saddiq Bey and Bogdan Bogdanovic scoring to lead the way down the stretch.
With 6:06 to play, Bey hit a running layup in transition before going up for a 3 while falling out of bounds. Officials initially whistled Cavs guard Darius Garland for a foul but after a challenge and review, they overturned it and assessed Bey for flopping. But that did not phase Bey and he made a 3 from the wing off a sweeping pass from Bogdanovic.
Then Bogdanovic hit a driving reverse layup before hitting a dagger 3 to put the Hawks up 105-99 with 3:13 to play.
Off of Bey’s and Bogdanovic’s playmaking, the Hawks finished the game on a 10-2 run.
“I like to play the point guard. I’m not just the shooter,” Bogdanovic said. “So, whenever there’s opportunity to create I like to create for others. I feel like I know to play that chess game two, three steps ahead.”
3. The Hawks led the Cavaliers 64-59 at the end of the first half but they could not sustain that when they returned for the second half. Just under 90 seconds into the third period, Hawks forward Jalen Johnson landed awkwardly on his right ankle and left the game.
The team initially ruled it an ankle sprain and Johnson did not return.
Without Johnson’s size, the Cavs attacked the rim by leaning on Jarrett Allen, who scored just six points in the entire first half but dropped 12 points in the third quarter.
With Allen leading the way, the Cavs outscored the Hawks 40-23 in the period, erasing the Hawks’ lead and ended the third up two.
4. Though Allen had an explosive third quarter, Hawks big men Clint Capela and Bruno Fernando thrived off the team’s perimeter defense and made looks at the basket tougher. The two ended up combining for 19 rebounds, while providing strong box outs.
“Just gotta be smart,” Capela said. “I feel like because at the same time, we’re still trying to challenge shots of guards that came in and also at the same time, they look for him to get the lob. So just to be able to do both and stay active.”
Those box outs opened up space for the team to not only grab 42 rebounds but also tap the ball out of a crowd and keep possessions alive.
When they did grab offensive boards, they kicked out to the perimeter instead of playing into crowds. Capela scored eight points, had nine rebounds and three assists. Fernando chipped in seven points, 10 rebounds and two assists, one of which included a bounce pass to De’Andre Hunter for a dunk.
5. The Hawks surged out to the 21-point lead in the first half off the strong the play of their bench. Led by Hunter, who is still on minutes restriction, the Hawks bench outscored the Cavaliers 33-29.
But Hunter had enough help from Trent Forrest, who played significant minutes with rookie Kobe Bufkin out with left big toe soreness. Forrest read the game and got players to the right spots, while providing the Hawks with strong defense.
Stat to know
2 - It’s just the second time in franchise history the Hawks have held an opponent to 12-or-fewer points in the final quarter after allowing at least 40 points in the previous quarter, per Elias Sports.
Quotable
“That’s probably the second time I’ve seen him dunk in five years.” -- Bruno Fernando on De’Andre Hunter’s dunk.
Up next
The Hawks head to Memphis to play the Grizzlies on Friday.
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