Who ARE these masked men?

Why, they’re the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team that strolled into Philips Arena last month against an unsuspecting Atlanta Hawks team and, after laying low for a half, ran off with a split-second victory like a thief in the night.

This time, they’ve got their alpha dog back. And this time, the Hawks will be in their house.

Just like Detroit a couple days ago, Cleveland (7-23) has a more positive outlook after beating the Wizards for their second win in a row (first “streak” of the year).

Tristan Thompson is still donning his protective mask. The second-year pro has contributed a double-double in each of his last four games, missing five consecutive by just a single rebound (12.4 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 52.3 FG% in his last five). His season high of 15 rebounds against came against the Hawks on November 30. Thompson’s bump in production comes right on time, with could-be All-Star Anderson Varejao (14.1 PPG, league-leading 14.4 RPG, 3.4 APG, 1.5 SPG) still out and nursing a bruised knee.

Beta-dog Varejao is not planning to play this entire weekend. The Cavs will need to mask his absence not only with strong rebounding performances (29^th in the NBA in defensive rebounds per game, even with Andy V) from frontcourt reserves, but also some participation in the passing game and occasional defensive stops. Against Washington on Wednesday, Cleveland was out-boarded 51-38, yet they did manage to generate (or, at least, be present for) 20 turnovers, a high for the month even though they’re from the Wizards.

They only went nine-deep in that game, giving Luke Walton his second straight 20+ minute appearance (his only two this season, so far). Walton surprised with a team-leading 3 steals against D.C. With a healed cheekbone, Tyler Zeller shed his facemask along the way to a career-high 20 points in his first NBA start against Boston last week (“All Praise Due to Jason Collins”). But Zeller seems to have trouble striking a balance of efficient scoring (32.4 FG% his last 3 games) and consistent rebounding (8.0 RPG in his last three games, 2.5 RPG in the two games prior). Samardo Samuels can’t help (or harm) as he’s just been assigned to their D-League affiliate in Canton. Facing back-to-back games like the Hawks, look for a surprise participant from Coach Byron Scott’s sizable doghouse to emerge. Kevin Jones? Jon Leuer? Omri Casspi? Against any of these guys, this may turn out to be a good game for Atlanta to give Mike Scott some shine.

Kyrie Irving is rocking a mask now. Originally going with the Jet Li look, a black mask to shield a broken bone in his jaw, he’s now going with the Rip Hamilton-style clear mask. Either way, it’s been hard for opponents to keep Kyrie from going Zorro on them. Irving has averaged 23.0 PPG and 5.4 APG while shooting 40.4% on threes and 46.1% overall since his return from a broken finger. He hung an L on the Lakers with 28 and 11, and his 41 points nearly toppled the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. After the Hawks’ struggles containing Will the Thrill Bynum on Wednesday, what defensive designs will Larry Drew draw up for Uncle Drew?

Jeremy Pargo wasn’t wearing a mask, but he sure played like The Mask in his last game against the Hawks, just one among a disconcerting conga line of opposing small guards to declare aloud,

“Somebody stop me!” He burned Jeff Teague and the Hawks’ backcourt for 22 points, largely on an array of blow-by layups and step-back jumpers in the final stanza as the Cavs made their late charge. He’s taken a definite backseat with Irving back (five appearances and eight combined points in Cleveland’s last nine games), but it’s intriguing how much we’ll see of Jannero’s little bro this time around, perhaps alongside Irving as the situation warrants.

Dion Waiters has been hot-and-cold offensively in five games since returning from an ankle sprain. Moreso than the return of Irving, Waiters’ trips to the line and three point shooting largely represent the difference between his last five games (2.0 FTAs/game, 0.4 3PTM/game, 11.8 PPG) and the prior five games before his injury (4.6 FTAs, 1.8 3PTM, 18.6 PPG). While Byron Scott values Waiters’ athleticism, it’s been a challenge for him to mask Waiters’ defensive lapses and inefficient shooting (38.2 FG% in the last 5 games, 36.7% on the season).

Alonzo Gee continues to start but has been going through the motions with few standout games of late. He may struggle to hold off C.J. Miles for a starting wing spot, although his defense remains his calling card. Miles has cooled lately, but emerged with a couple explosive performances after Kyrie returned to action. He had 28 points each in back-to-back nights against the Lakers and Pacers, then followed that with 17 points in back-to-backs with the Bucks and Knicks before returning to Earth (9.0 PPG in his last five). C.J. does seem to be regaining his confidence (and Byron Scott’s) after a miserable November.

Former Hawk Donald Sloan was cut loose to make room for Shaun Livingston, who was himself released for the second time in two months, this time by the Wizards. It’s hoped that he will add flexibility among the backcourt reserves, particularly allowing Daniel Gibson to shift onto point guards defensively.

Despite mediocre shooting from deep (16^th in 3FG%), expect the Cavs to come out swords blazing. When they manage to make ten or more three-pointers, their record is 6-3, and 1-20 otherwise. Expect Hawk guards to play close to the vest, but the wings and power forwards need to step out and help redirect their path to the rim when the Cavs’ guards drive. Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia need to stay home on defense and limit the cheapies from their opponents at center.

Cav opponents shoot the league’s highest percentage at-the-rim (around 69%), an area where the Hawks excel. Particularly with Varejao out-of-action, this is not a day for Hawk forwards to sharpen their long-range sniping. But if they do (hint: they will), they can take solace in knowing Cleveland gives up long-twos at a league-high 41%. Cleveland’s intent is to guide teams into the muddled middle where guys like Gee, Irving, and Gibson can be at their disruptive best. A league-leading 58% of those at-rim shots from Cav foes are assisted, so this could be a nice day for lobs to the bigs and backdoor cuts from the wings.

They may not be players, but they hack a lot. Cleveland ranks 2^nd in racking up personal fouls, 5^th in opponent free throw attempts (you’ll recall the Hawks are the NBA’s stingiest in these categories). Hopefully a significant number of trips to the line for Atlanta will be of the And-1 variety (top five in And-1s, as a percentage of field goal attempts) and not just Best-of-Two (28th in FT%).

Go Hawks!

~lw3