It’s payback time! Al Horford and friends return to the scene of the crime, Quicken Loans Arena, in search of a fifth-straight victory on the season, against the Cleveland Cavaliers (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, FoxSports Ohio), a familiar foe with royally upgraded expectations.

Following the season’s first three-game winning streak and a near-upending of LeBron James’ defending champion Miami heat in OT, the 2013-14 Atlanta Hawks were a 3-seed in the East, looking every bit the part of an NBA team just beginning to turn a major corner. It was the day after Christmas 2013, and Mike Budenholzer’s Hawks were in Cleveland trying to un-wrap their first road victory in a month. Horford was coming into his own, plunking down 25 points in Cleveland for his fourth-straight 20+-point feast, leaving the Cavs’ free agent prize Andrew Bynum to seriously reconsider his career choice. Al’s 2-point basket from Jeff Teague with a minute to go forced overtime in the Buckeye State. Then, disaster struck.

With under two minutes to go in OT, Anderson Varejao callously de-tata’d Horford as he futilely attempted to wrest the ball away along the sideline. Horford exited stage right for the season, leaving it to Paul Millsap and Jeff Teague for the heroics needed to come back from three points down and force a second OT session. Teague’s 34 points, including the buzzer-beating game-winner, and 14 assists upstaged Kyrie Irving’s 40-and-9, building renewed confidence that his game, at his best, is not all that far off from All-Star quality.

Unfortunately, the loss of Horford and a few subsequent injuries deflated Atlanta’s postseason hopes. By the time both teams met again in April, the Hawks had tumbled from 16-13 to 32-42, in need of a winning sprint at the close of the season just to reach the playoffs.

Meanwhile, one season after winning the top draft pick, the Cavs, losers of all three games to Atlanta last season, had to settle once again for the lottery after its playoff hopes were dashed. Then, the ping pong balls bounced, Andrew Wiggins happened, LeBron shocked everyone by coming home, and Wiggins-and-fluff turned into Kevin Love. While Horford rehabilitated in Atlanta, Varejao’s Cleveland became Believeland once again.

Now, this isn’t Basketball Wives, so no one needs to see Varejao’s wig get snatched or anything. But Horford and his 5-3 mates can leave an indelible statement behind, that no one in the East is willing to simply hand the Eastern Conference over to LeBron and his new merry Kingdom.

“Oh noes! LeBron and Kyrie are squabbling! Kyrie and Kevin like puffing weed! Kevin’s leaving us for the Lakers! Dion’s leaving us for ISIS!” Such is the downside for any team with a player or two the average person remotely cares about – the non-stories border on absurdity. And they get all the more WTFier every time the Cavaliers (4-3) lose. James (NBA-high 27.1 PPG; 6.7 APG, 10^th in NBA) is doing everything he can to keep that from happening. Even out of the gate, it’s doubtful that he expected winning to be this hard. James, Love, and Irving are each among the NBA’s top-5 in minutes played.

After playing five of their past six games on the road, Cleveland comes into tonight’s action on the heels of a Friday-nighter, just like the Hawks, theirs on the road in Boston. Needing to avoid falling back below .500 and to keep the ravenous media mum, the Cavs smartly hopped on the James Train. LeBron (41 points, 7 assists) may have slimmed down a bit for this season, and he’s not as fond of football as he used to be, yet he still ran into, over, and by various and sundry Celtic defenders to bring Cleveland all the way back into the lead from 19 points down in the fourth quarter.

Even with James and Shawn Marion in tow to join Varejao, first-year coach David Blatt knew he had his work cut out for him in turning around a team defense that has been known for being, at best, cavalier when it comes to effort. Few anticipated, though, the team looking like “Clevelan”, the Cavs’ 111.0 opponent points per 100 possessions worse than every NBA team save for the Lakers (and just slightly worse than their opponent from last night, the Celtics). Only Love’s former team, the T’wolves (50.5 opponent FG%), have a harder time keeping the ball out of the basket than the Cavs (49.0 opponent FG%).

Losing dogged second-year point guard Matthew Dellavedova to a sprained knee didn’t help a Cavs team that is the sole NBA squad giving up more than twice as many assists (NBA-high 26.7 opponent APG) as turnovers (12.7 opponent TO/game). Cleveland’s also ranked in the NBA’s bottom-five for steals (5.6 SPG, 4^th-lowest in NBA) and blocks (3.7 BPG, 4^th-lowest in NBA).

With Rajon Rondo (16 assists, 3 TOs) at the helm for Boston, Cleveland gave up a season-high 48 field goals on 54.5 FG% last night, including 42 points in the 3rd quarter. Kelly Olynyk and Jared Sullinger pretty much had their way with Cleveland’s interior and still stepped outside for threes, while Jeff Green had few problems drawing fouls and piling up points at the free throw line.

Blatt replaced recently-injured Dion Waiters in the starting lineup with the veteran Marion, and while The Matrix seems like an odd choice for a 2-guard, his presence is sorely needed on one side of the floor. Waiters returned to action last night after nursing a sore back. But after Marion phone-boothed Rondo with the clock running out to save the game, it’s not likely Waiters will be getting his starting gig back anytime soon.

The Hawks must treat James as though he’s donning a red-and-white-striped ski hat: Where’s LeBron? Love (20.9 D-Reb%, 4^th in NBA) will be a monster on the glass, but the true American Horror Show is Love heaving the ball on an outlet to any one of James, Irving, or Waiters, as the trio can run a literal track meet in transition. Even in the halfcourt, James cannot get the ball out on the wing with a clear lane toward the hoop. The Hawks must work for 48 minutes to shield and deny James the easy passes that allow him to do the dirty work.

Despite atrocious defense, LeBron’s Cavs have been staying in games thanks to the mercy of the referees’ whistles. Cleveland has been called for an NBA-low 17.4 personal fouls per game, a value that’s hard to believe with the number of active bulls-in-china-shops they have at their disposal, particularly Varejao (61.1 FG%, 6^th in NBA) and Tristan Thompson (19.3 O-Reb%, 1^st in NBA), and drive-friendly guards like Irving (8.1 PPG on drives, 3^rd in NBA) and Waiters. Cleveland’s personal foul differential of -6.6 per game is the widest gap in the league, as is the 9.6 additional free throw attempts per game. The turnovers Atlanta generates must come more by way of picking off passes than swiping at the Cavs’ ballhandlers or drawing charges.

Last night, the Hawks shot a scintillating 56.0 FG% (also 82.6 FT%) against Miami, and they left it to benign players like Mario Chalmers and Shawne Williams to keep the heat within shouting distance. Horford (8-for-10 FGs, plus 4 assists) soundly outshined James’ former Big 3 teammate Chris Bosh in probably his best offensive display of the young season.

Eight Hawks registered double-figures on the scoreboard, including Shaqtin a Fool nominee Mike Scott, who had 26 points on 12-for-13 FGs in his last outing against the Cavs. Cleveland apparently digs Atlanta’s approach with second-rounders, as they went back to Charlottesville this past summer to nab guard Joe Harris. Like his fellow Virginia Cav alum Scott has done, Harris has been sparking Cleveland’s offense in limited minutes and gaining Blatt’s trust. Amid Cleveland's championship aspirations, rumors are the rookie is being groomed to take over the 2-spot from Waiters and Marion very soon.

Contrast-and-compare the way Cleveland (36.2 3FG%) and Atlanta (40.6 3FG%, 1^st in NBA) get their three-point shots. An NBA-high 98.8% of the Hawks’ three-pointers have come off of an assist. For the Cavaliers, it’s an NBA-low 68.5% of their threes assisted. One can expect a lot of heroball anytime the Cavs are falling behind or hearing footsteps. Atlanta’s perimeter defenders cannot bail the Cavs out by fouling them in the act of shooting. Cleveland’s 81.2 FT% ranks second in the league, each of the team’s top four scorers (James, Irving, Love, Varejao) shooting at-or-above 82 percent.

Look for a lot of Atlanta’s big bodies (Pero Antić, Elton Brand, maybe one of Adreian Payne or Mike Muscala) sopping up fouls to thwart easy buckets and putbacks, so Horford and Paul Millsap won’t have to do it all. If Teague, Dennis Schröder, and Shelvin Mack can collectively outpoint Kyrie Irving (22.7 PPG) and the Cavs’ lead guards, the Cavs’ true defensive players can be stretched late in the game by Horford, Millsap and Kyle Korver, left feeling like they have to be everywhere at once.

If all goes well tonight, Horford should be able to turn to Varejao and keep him a-breast of which NBA rival isn’t deferring the conference crown to the King. What’s wrong, Anderson? Your Cavs can’t pass the Hawks in the standings? Tough Titty!

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3