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The Atlanta Hawks have a winning record, but they didn’t have many quality victories this season. Other than a victory in Orlando in early November, the Hawks hadn’t defeated a team over .500.
That changed on Friday night as the Hawks defeated the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers 130-123. After the game, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder said both teams played well, “but we did a lot of things late.”
Cavaliers All-Star point guard Darius Garland was back on the court for just the sixth time this season. Cleveland is a much better team with Garland, the same way the Hawks are better when Trae Young is in the lineup. Similar to Garland, Young has only played in five games. He could be seen taking jump shots during warmups over an hour before the two teams came out for regular pregame warm-ups. Young isn’t expected back for another week or two.
Atlanta got out to an early 10-point lead after allowing Cleveland to open the game with a 7-0 advantage. One of the strengths of this Hawks team is its depth, and reserves like Mouhamed Gueye have consistently contributed scoring when needed. Gueye caught an alley-oop from teammate Zaccharie Risacher on one possession and dunked home two points on a baseline drive on another. Gueye had another dunk to give Atlanta a 33-20 lead with 28.8 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Tied at 47 with five minutes remaining in the first half, Garland went on a mini-run, throwing alley-oops and getting to the basket whenever he felt it was necessary. He and All-Star teammate Donovan Mitchell (42 points) helped the Cavs grab a 56-55 lead with 2:22 on the clock.
The first half included former Hawks forward De’Andre Hunter and Gueye getting into a double-foul situation following a dunk by Hunter. The Cavs then went on an 11-0 run to pull within a point at 33-32 at the nine-minute mark.
There were more than a dozen lead changes during the first half before the Cavaliers finally took a 62-60 lead at the half. The Hawks, led by 15 points from Nickeil Alexander-Walker, had four players score 10 or more points during the first half. Mitchell led Cleveland with a game-high 22 first-half points.
Atlanta regained the lead during the third quarter. The Hawks led by as many as nine points during the quarter, led by the play of Dyson Daniels. The Australian native averages just under 10 points per game for the Hawks, but continues to affect the game in different ways. Daniels scored four points late in the quarter, but also had eight assists and six rebounds by the end of the third.
“I thought he did a great job of getting in the game and making the right decisions,” Snyder said of Daniels’s play on Friday night. “Tonight his stats reflected that.”
During the fourth quarter, Mitchell scored eight straight points for Cleveland to cut the Atlanta lead. That run included a three-pointer off a Hawks turnover to make the score 107-103. Hawks guard Vit Krejci was the player who was responsible for the turnover, but it was also Krejci who dunked on a fast break to give Atlanta an 111-103 cushion.
With the game tied at 113, the teams exchanged leads and dunks from Risacher and Hunter before the Hawks took a five-point advantage on a pair of free throws from Jalen Johnson (triple-double: 29 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists). The game was tied again at 123 with 1:24 remaining in the game when Alexander-Walker was fouled while shooting a three-pointer in front of the Hawks’ bench. Following a coach’s challenge, that call was reversed. Alexander-Walker would get his revenge when he and Risacher connected on back-to-back three-pointers to put Atlanta up 129-123 with less than a minute to play.
The Atlanta Hawks were under .500 at home (3-4) coming into this game against the Cavaliers. Cleveland wasn’t playing much better on the road with a 4-4 record. Something had to give.
What’s Next: The Hawks will return to the court on Sunday in Philadelphia and on Monday in Detroit. They return to State Farm Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 3, to begin a two-game homestand against the Los Angeles Clippers and the Denver Nuggets on Friday, December 5.
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Donnell Suggs
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