Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Atlanta Hawks: Postgame Grades and Analysis
Al Horford scored 19 points, Paul Millsap and Jeff Teague each scored 16 and the Atlanta Hawks pulled away late to top the Cleveland Cavaliers, 106-97, at Philips Arena Friday night for their sixth straight win.
That doesn't seem enough for Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer, though, per Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick:
The Hawks jumped out to a 36-19 lead after one quarter of play, shooting 71 percent in the first period and holding the Cavaliers to 40 percent shooting.
Cleveland cut into the lead a bit in the second quarter, and by halftime, Atlanta was up 53-43.
The Cavs came out firing in the third quarter, eventually taking a one-point edge. However, it was short-lived.
The Hawks dominated the fourth period, going up by as many as 15 points.
Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers with 20.
Atlanta shot 51 percent from the floor and held Cleveland to 42 percent shooting. The Cavs lost in spite of making 13 three-pointers and going 26-of-33 from the free-throw line.
The Hawks won the season series with the Cavaliers, 3-1. Kevin Love hopes this was a potential playoff preview, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin:
That would be terrific.
Cleveland Cavaliers
LeBron James: D
| LeBron James | D |
| Kyrie Irving | B- |
| Kevin Love | C |
| J.R. Smith | C |
| Timofey Mozgov | C |
| Rest of Team | B- |
| Al Horford | A+ |
| Paul Millsap | B |
| Jeff Teague | B+ |
| Kyle Korver | D |
| DeMarre Carroll | A- |
| Rest of Team | A+ |
LeBron James was befuddled all night.
He was sloppy (nine turnovers), didn't make good reads and took some questionable shots. The looks the Hawks threw at him defensively made him uncomfortable throughout the entire game.
He scored 18 points off 5-of-13 shooting, going 1-of-4 from three-point range and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. James did tally eight assists, but whatever nice feeds he made were negated by all of his miscues with the ball.
James was pretty candid when discussing his outing, per Chris B. Haynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Overall, this was probably one of LeBron's worst performances of the season.
Kyrie Irving: B-
Kyrie Irving was probably the best Cavalier on the floor.
He scored 20 points off a so-so 7-of-16 clip, making some extremely difficult layups in traffic (what else is new?). He did a decent job getting to the line, too, going 6-of-7.
However, Irving went 0-of-5 from three-point range, bricking a couple of his attempts. He also committed five turnovers.
So, while he wasn't bad, he wasn't exactly stellar, either.
Kevin Love: C
Kevin Love looked lost once again.
He went 4-of-11 from the floor, with all four of his makes coming from distance. Those looks were generated off dribble penetration.
He only attempted one two-pointer, and it was a layup that he missed.
Love appeared overwhelmed by the Hawks frontcourt.
He finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.
J.R. Smith: C
J.R. Smith had an odd game.
He went 3-of-7 from beyond the arc, but just 1-of-4 from two-point range. Overall, he shot 36.4 percent for 12 points.
Smith also pulled down five rebounds and dished out three assists.
Of course, he took a couple of questionable shots down the stretch.
At least he didn't turn the ball over.
Timofey Mozgov: C
Timofey Mozgov struggled in this one.
He had six points off one shot, but he was absolutely abused by Al Horford throughout the game. Horford's versatility gave him a ton of issues, as the Hawks big man continually pulled Mozgov out of position and drained mid-range jumpers.
That's a tough, tough matchup for Mozgov.
Rest of Team: B-
Iman Shumpert was impressive off the pine, scoring 10 points off 4-of-6 shooting. He knocked down a pair of triples.
Tristan Thompson was decent, too, going for six points and six rebounds.
Matthew Dellavedova struggled defensively, having extreme difficulty keeping Dennis Schroder in front of him when he was on the floor. He also missed a pair of wide-open threes that could have been momentum-changers in the second half.
James Jones hit a pair of treys.
Atlanta Hawks
Al Horford: A+
Horford was dominant on both ends.
He tormented the Cavaliers in the pick-and-roll, draining mid-range jumpers with impunity. He also hit jump shots right in the face of Cleveland defenders.
Defensively, he provided terrific help, swallowing up LeBron and other Cavs drivers. He also did an outstanding job trapping ball-handlers in the corner and forcing them into difficult passes.
What's more, Horford was an orchestrator on offense, racking up six assists.
He added 19 points and nine rebounds, shooting 7-of-12 from the floor.
Paul Millsap: B
Paul Millsap was his normal, steady self in this one.
Seeing that he had a below-average defender in Love on him, Millsap attacked early and often, scoring 16 points off 7-of-15 shooting. He bulled his way inside for buckets and also made some nice passes, recording three assists.
The big man also pulled down eight boards and collected three steals.
Overall, it was a solid evening.
Jeff Teague: B+
Jeff Teague gave the Cavaliers fits.
He diced them up in the pick-and-roll, weaving through the defense and making beautiful layups at the cup. He also did a great job of finding bigs (namely Horford) in the pick-and-pop.
However, the best moment of Teague's night came late in the fourth quarter, when he flew down the court and swatted an Irving layup attempt against the backboard to essentially seal the win.
Teague shot 7-of-15.
Kyle Korver: D
Kyle Korver struggled for much of the night, going just 2-of-8 from the field.
However, Korver hit both of his three-pointers in the fourth quarter, and they proved to be pivotal makes. He got pretty hyped up on that second one, and he had something to say about it postgame, per Skolnick:
Otherwise, he had trouble getting open, and when he did, his accuracy was just off by a hair.
Korver recorded eight points and four rebounds.
DeMarre Carroll: A-
Not enough can be said about the job DeMarre Carroll did on LeBron.
Carroll used his length, smarts and quickness to stay in front of James, and he also did not allow himself to be pushed around. He got up in his grill and forced him to settle for long jumpers
Carroll was also solid offensively, going for 11 points off 5-of-8 shooting. In addition, he grabbed seven rebounds.
Rest of Team: A+
Schroder was brilliant off the bench, scoring 15 points and using his blinding quickness to get into the paint at will. If he wasn't making tough layups, he was forcing the defense to collapse and kicking the ball out to open shooters, as evidenced by his eight assists.
Mike Scott was the man in the fourth quarter. He scored 10 of his 14 points in the final period, making a variety of shots from jumpers, to dunks, to putbacks. He connected on seven of his nine shot attempts.
Kent Bazemore was terrific, as well. While he only scored five points, he played outstanding defense on LeBron. Despite giving up considerably size, Bazemore got up into James' jersey, forcing him into tough perimeter looks and leading him right into help defense on drives. He was a game-high plus-15.
Even Elton Brand gave some good minutes, drawing a charge, blocking a shot and making a jumper in six minutes.
What's Next?
The Cavaliers will head back home to Quicken Loans Arena and host the new-look Phoenix Suns Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Meanwhile, the Hawks will have a great opportunity to extend their winning streak, as they will head over to the Wells Fargo Center to do battle with the Philadelphia 76ers Saturday night, also at 7:30 p.m. ET.
