Cavaliers dive bombed by Hawks 135-124, sending Cavs to first home loss

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - Thursday is Thanksgiving and the Cleveland Cavaliers (17-1, 10-0 home) and their fans will hopefully feast on some turkey. On Wednesday night the Cavs welcomed another bird, the Atlanta Hawks (7-11, 3-6 road) to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and hoped to feast on them. Instead, the Hawks feasted on the Cavs 135-124 sending Cleveland to their first loss at home this season.

The Cavs came out scorching and jumped on the Hawks. With just 2:07 gone in the first quarter the Cavs took a double digit lead 10-0 on a three by Isaac Okoro on a pass from Darius Garland. Hawks coach Quin Snyder took an immediate timeout to calm his troops. The Cavs extended the lead to 14-3 with 8:41 left after Garland was fouled by Jalen Johnson and hit both shots. With 5:36 left on the opening quarter clock the Cavs took a 27-8 lead when Okoro hit his second three early in the game. The Hawks made a run and with 2:52 left Kobe Bufkin, yes that’s right Kobe Bufkin was fouled by Donovan Mitchell and hit both free throws cutting the Cavs lead to 30-20. Then with 2:30 left De’Andre Hunter hit a three and was fouled by Ty Jerome. After Hunter hit the free throw the Cavs lead was down to 32-24 and then 32-27 after Bufkin hit a three with 2:08 remaining. The Cavs lead was down to three at 35-32 with :46 left when Bogdan Bogdanovic hit a three. The Hawks came all the way back to tie the game 35-35 with :11 left when Bufkin hit a three to end the quarter with the teams tied. Hunter led all scorers with nine points. Okoro and Jarrett Allen led the Cavs with eight points apiece. The most glaring stat in the first 12 minutes was efficiency from behind the three point line. The Hawks shot 57% (8 of 14) while the Cavs shot a miserable 27% (4 of 15).

The Cavs came out with more energy in the opening minutes of the second quarter outscoring the Hawks 10-2 and took a 45-37 lead courtesy of two Mitchell free throws with 10:04 on the clock. The game remained close as the quarter wore on. But with 5:54 left on the clock Trae Young sliced the Cleveland lead to 52-50. Cavs bench boss Kenny Atkinson called an immediate timeout in an attempt to thwart the Atlanta momentum. With the Cavs up 55-49 the officials began to rear their ugly heads as the Cavs were continuing to be called for ticky tack fouls Garland let them know what he thought and was accessed a technical. Then with 3:13 left before half Evan Mobley hit a three to give the Cavs a 58-53 lead. The Hawks pulled to within one point at 58-57 on a dunk by Johnson with 2:24 left after a Mitchell turnover and then took a 59-58 lead with 2:18 on an alley-op dunk by Johnson. The Cavs however said, “No you don’t” as the half ended they outscored the Hawks 6-2 to take a 64-61 lead into the locker room courtesy of some nice moves by Mitchell in the paint and a huge block by Mobley with time running out. Bogdanovic led all scorers with 14 first half points. Mobley led the Cavs with 13. The Cavs had three players in double figures. The battle of the boards was even as both teams pulled down 26 apiece. The Cavs shot 47% (23 of 49) from the field in the first half, while the Hawks shot 39% (20 of 52). But the story was from behind the three point arc as the Hawks shot 44% (10 of 23) and the Cavs managed to shoot only 33% (9 of 27).

The Hawks came out flying (pun intended) to start the third quarter outscoring the Cavs 8-6 to close to within one point at 70-69 with 10:30 left. Atkinson took a timeout, he was having none of it. The Hawks continued to battle tying the game at 72-72 and then taking the lead 74-72 with 9:03 left. After the Hawks went up for Garland drove the lane and was fouled. After Garland hit the free throw the Cavs pulled to within one at 76-75 with 8:31 remaining in the third. Atlanta continued to be on fire from long range taking a 81-77 lead on a three by Dyson Daniels with 7:34 remaining. The Hawks were shooting 48% (14 of 29) from behind the arc. With 4:38 left in the period the Hawks lead was now 88-85. The Hawks then extended their lead to 90-85 on a layup by Daniels with 3:49 left. The Cavs hit their 12th three of the game at 3:17 when Sam Merrill hit pay dirt after a steal by Mobley at the other end. The Cavs then tied the game at 90-90 on a tip in by Mobley with 2:48 left. Mobley was also fouled on the play and gave the Cavs a 91-90 lead after hitting the free throw. The Hawks regained the lead and then went up 95-91 on another three, this one by Hunter with 1:51 left. The official began to take over the game calling fouls on the Cavs for coming within a foot of a Hawks players and the Hawks now led 97-91 with 1:20 left in the third. One thing that became very apparent as the third quarter continued this officiating crew either was not watching the same game as the sellout crowd at RMFH or definitely got a memo from the NBA office on how they wanted this game to go. When the clock expired ending the third quarter the Hawks led 98-95. Hunter continued to lead all scorers with 18 points. Mitchell led the Cavs with 17. The Hawks shot 6 of 10 (60%) in the third quarter from behind the three point line while the Cavs continued to struggle from long shooting just 3 of 10 (30%).

The Cavs came out shooting to start the fourth quarter and took the lead 102-98 with seven straight points. The Hawks cut the lead to 109-107 with 7:44 left on a layup by Bogdanovic. The Hawks then tied the game at the 7:05 mark when Garland fouled Zaccharie Risacher. Atlanta then regained the lead 112-109 when the Cavs could not make a shot and Hunter hit another three with 6:44 remaining. The Hawks lead grew to 115-109 when Young hit a three with 5:49 left on the clock in regulation. Mobley was fouled after missing both free throws. The last time he was at the line hit one of two this trip to trim the Hawks lead to 115-110 with 5:33 left. The Hawks lead grew to 119-112 as Hunter drove the lane and scored and whined about not getting a foul call after with 4:19 left. Hunter got his wish less than two minutes later when he scored and drew a foul giving the Hawks a 124-116 lead with 2:44 left. Down the stretch the Cavs could not hit their free throws. In a span of two minutes Mobley and Mitchell were a combined 2 of 6 from the charity stripe. After a Hawks turnover some life was injected into the crowd as Ty Jerome hit a three to cut the Hawks lead to 126-122. The officials reviewed the three and it was confirmed with 1:43 left. With 1:23 left Young hit a three to give the Hawks a 129-122 lead. At the other end Jerome threw the ball out of bounds and the Hawks took advantage taking a 131-122 lead with :54 left. The Hawks sealed the deal with two free throws by Daniels with :44 left taking a 133-124 lead. The Cavs then turned the ball over again and the final was 135-124.

Breaking the game down the Cavs were outplayed by the Hawks in every phase of the game, especially on the defensive end. The 135 points is the most the Cavs gave up thus far this season. The previous high was 126 against the Chicago on November 15 at RMFH. As Atkinson said after the game when referring to the game, “that was a stinker.” He went on to say, “there were defensive breakdowns.” He did give the Hawks credit, “They played great.”

The Cavs will now travel to Atlanta on Friday to take on the Hawks State Farm Arena at 2:30 pm. The game will be part of the NBA Cup. The Cavs are currently 1-1 in the NBA Cup and are a half game behind the Hawks, Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics, but are +15 in points in the tournament which is the tie breaker.