Hawks Fall to Cavaliers Again: No Charm on the Third Try

The Atlanta Hawks are 0-3 against the Cleveland Cavaliers this season after tonight’s 93-88 loss in Cleveland.

This game had a familiar tune to those played in the first two meetings with the Cavaliers. Atlanta played very well in the beginning of the game and led in the fourth quarter 76-74 with seven minutes left in the game.

However, just like in their two previous games, the Hawks went cold from the field, leading to a 14-0 run by Cleveland. Lebron James led the way during the run, scoring seven of Cleveland’s 14 points on his way to finishing with a game-high 27 points. James also had 13 rebounds and six assists.

But it wasn’t just James who was too much for the Hawks. The Hawks inability to play consistently for 48 minutes, especially during the clutch moments, left them winning some battles but not the war.

It begins with Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford. Johnson and Crawford have been Atlanta’s two most consistent offensive threats this season. They went a combined 12-of-35 from the field, including 3-of-12 from beyond the 3-point line.

Josh Smith led the Hawks with 20 points and filled up the stat sheet with seven rebounds, four assists, and three blocked shots.

While he played well on both ends of the floor for Atlanta, Smith was just 2-of-7 from the line, including two big misses during Cleveland’s 14-0 fourth quarter run.

With 6:43 left in the game, Al Horford made both free throws to put the Hawks up 76-74. The Hawks would not score again until Johnson made a layup with 1:13 left in the game.

The Hawks only scored 42 points in the second half, getting points 31 and 32 of the second half on Johnson’s layup.

Basically, it took the Hawks 23 minutes to score 32 points in the second half. In that same length of time the Cavaliers scored 39 points.

The loss stings even more for the Hawks because the Boston Celtics lost at home to the Houston Rockets tonight. Had the Hawks won tonight, they could have increased their lead over the Celtics for the third seed in the East to two games. Since they both lost, the Hawks will have to remain just a game ahead of Boston.

Why is that so important?

Because of the rules decided by the league, if Boston and Atlanta are tied with the same record at the end of the season, Boston would get the nod over Atlanta for the third spot because the Celtics are going to win the Atlantic Division.

How bad does that suck? Atlanta swept Boston this season, but would lose the tiebreaker because the Atlantic Division is a joke.

If Atlanta does lose the third seed to the Celtics, then that would mean Atlanta would get to see Cleveland in the second round of the playoffs. How fun.

Atlanta will get one more shot against Cleveland. They play their final game of the regular season against the Cavaliers at home on April 14.