Hawks crumble in final seconds of loss to Cavaliers

1. After missing three games for the birth of his second daughter, Londyn Elle, Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce was back at the helm Tuesday night. Pierce was originally expected back for the game against Denver Sunday, but had to test negative for COVID-19 for longer at the league’s behest, since he had been on a plane and in a hospital recently. Assistant coach Nate McMillan filled in for Pierce for those three games, with the Hawks recording a win against Denver and splitting a series vs. Boston.

2. Against a Cavaliers team that was missing Andre Drummond, Kevin Love, Larry Nance Jr., Taurean Prince, Matthew Dellavedova and Marques Bolden, this was a truly bad loss for the Hawks, who continue to struggle to close out games.

Tied 84-84 entering the fourth quarter, they worked their way up to a six-point lead with about five minutes to play and seemed to be trending in the right direction, but allowed Cleveland (11-21) to hang around and steal a win late.

Trae Young (28 points, 12 assists) missed a quick floater with 11.3 seconds to play and in transition, Collin Sexton (29 points) got the ball to Lamar Stevens, who finished with a wide-open dunk as the Hawks were disorganized on defense.

“Disappointed,” Pierce said. “Thought we needed one more play. They made one more than we did. Just a couple possessions down the stretch, couldn’t get the ball to go down and really needed one more defensive effort down the stretch and it was a really a lapse of multiple effort, trying to scramble in transition.” Clint Capela wasn’t on the floor for that final sequence, subbed out for Danilo Gallinari with 19.5 seconds left.

3. Solomon Hill, who was on the floor for the Hawks’ final defensive possession (and collapse), took the blame for the the loss. Pierce had mentioned Hill was out-of-position, though of course the loss doesn’t come down to one play or player.

“I’ll take the blame for that one,” Hill said. “We came down, the guy that was going was Collin Sexton, so I wanted to bring some pressure to him, and he made the right play. ... Lamar Stevens drove the ball without any resistance.”

Hill said the Hawks still need to focus on executing better in the fourth quarter. He also took the loss personally, since he thought he had taken a charge a minute two minutes prior, but the Hawks lost a timeout after Pierce lost the coach’s challenge.

4. After appearing to take an elbow to the side of the head earlier in the game, John Collins was ruled out for the second half and is being evaluated for a concussion. Per the Hawks, it was a precautionary measure, as the team determines if Collins has concussion or not. He will be looked at by the training staff Tuesday.

Credit: Tony Dejak

Credit: Tony Dejak

Collins did play in the second quarter after taking the hit, but did not come out to start the second half, with Gallinari taking his place. Also on the injury front, Cam Reddish missed this game with right Achilles soreness, so Tony Snell started in his spot. Snell finished with 11 points.

5. The Cavaliers average 9.1 3-pointers a game and make 33.5% of their 3′s (dead last in the league in both categories). In their win vs. the Hawks, though, the Cavaliers shot a season-high 53.6% from 3-point range (15-for-28), bolstering their offense. They had basically reached their season average by halftime, going 9-for-15 (60%) from 3-point range to take a 58-55 lead.

Stats of the game

11-7, 0-2 (the Hawks are 11-7 when leading after the third quarter but 0-2 when tied after the third quarter.

Star of the game

Collin Sexton (led Cleveland in scoring and had a key assist to Lamar Stevens for the game-winning dunk)

Quotable

“It’s frustrating whenever you’re up and you have a chance to close the game, win the game, and you just don’t do it. It’s frustrating and we’ve just got to be better at it.” (Trae Young on the Hawks’ continued struggles in the fourth quarter)