Official Game Thread: Cavaliers at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

“I SAID, THE KING’S IN THE BUILDING... TELL ME, HOW YOU FEELIN’?”

 

Spoiler Days continue! There’s not much more to say ahead of today’s matinee for the Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers (3:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, Fox Sports Ohio in CLE, NBATV everywhere else).

Thanks to back-to-back, but completely different shockers against the Eastern Conference’s upper crust, the Hawks (41-38) are moonwalking into the NBA Playoffs for the tenth-consecutive season, just two seasons fewer than whatever team LeBron James graces with his presence.

Victory today at the Highlight Factory would make it two regular-season series wins for Head Coach Mike Budenholzer’s teams against James’ Cavaliers in the past three seasons. It would also clinch a winning regular season record for the Basketball Club, for the eighth time in the past nine seasons. More importantly, winning serves as a confidence-building exercise for the Hawks, and their long-bemused fanbase, as they make their final push toward the postseason.

The Rules of Engagement are about the same for the Hawks as they were in Friday night’s fantastical upending of The King and his subjects on his merry Cleveland court. Don’t foul; stay adhered to the three-point shooters; don’t fall for the trap of helping and overpursuing inside; catch the opponent napping in transition; keep the unforced errors down; move the ball and keep moving yourselves.

Only this time, the actors will be a little different. Less Ryan Kelly and Kris Humphries (the latter probable, despite neck spasms), more Paul Millsap and Dwight Howard. It’ll be like the way soap operas do it: “The role of Perimeter Closeout Guy will now be played by Kent Bazemore.”

One can only hope that the sharp-shooting exhibited by the Junior Mints, inclusive of Mike Dunleavy (20 bench points, outscoring Kyle Korver, 4-for-5 3FGs) and occasional tour de force Tim Hardaway (9-for-14 FGs, 4-for-9 on threes, 5 assists, no TOs vs. CLE), will take pressure off Dennis Schröder in his return to action. Jose Calderon (7 assists, 2 TOs vs. CLE) laid a sound blueprint for Schröder on how to distribute the rock and keep everyone involved. The Cavs struggled to keep up with so many Hawks cutting to the basket, something Schröder can help exploit this afternoon by looking for Bazemore and the Hawks’ athletic wings.

It will be tough for Coach Bud to stuff the rookie genies back in the bottle. DeAndre’ Bembry accentuated the positive with yeoman’s work defending James on the interior. Also off the bench, Malcolm Delaney (8 assists, no turnovers) was sneaky good. Prince will look to bounce back after his mostly-off night (2-for-9 FGs, 4 TOs) was lost amid the madness on Friday. Keeping the youngsters involved in the offense suggests not becoming overreliant on Schröder and the Hawks’ frontcourt stars playing iso-ball.

Cavs coach Tyronn Lue remains adamant that everyone aside from Tristan Thompson (thumb sprain) will be available to play, as the top-seed and homecourt advantage for Cleveland (51-28, 0.5 games ahead of Boston) in the Eastern Conference playoffs is still up in the air. That suggests Kyrie Irving is still expected to step up despite persistent problems with his sore, surgically-repaired knee. If Irving can’t go, ballhandling duties will shift toward not only James, but Deron Williams and Iman Shumpert. J.R. Smith and Richard Jefferson will be counted on to jack up more shots on Kyrie’s behalf.

It’s always fun to play the Spoiler role. How ‘bout we keep this thing going for a few more days, or weeks!

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

 

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[ViewsFromTheSquawk]

I.... I.... I....... really wanna lose this game.... 

[Guest]

Well written game thread as usual lw3! Short and sweet for a Sunday affair. Obviously they wanna try and wrap up the top seed, and theoretically we want to continue our team building good habits. 

 

Its hard to control which seed you will get, if it's up to me, again a 7/2 Hawks/Celts matchup is my preference but if we end up having to play the Cavs in round 1, that might suck.

 

Either way, play the game the right way and the basketball Gods shall reward you..(I think I've heard that somewhere before...)

 

ps Love the King's in the building lw3...reminds me of @AHF sliding into his office to practice...well law..:-|

 

 

[Gray Mule]

"THE KING'S REVENGE"

Coming to a court near most of you - Today, 3:30 PM.

I remember, years and years ago, going to the movies and seeing

"Coming Attractions!" as they advertised the movies coming later.

This is our coming attraction as "The King" comes to visit.

 

[Lurker]

eh who cares if this is a loss, what was needed in these two games was already done.

[Wurider05]

I am excited because we are going to get their best. This is a good test for us to see where we are heading into the playoffs. The Celtics have the Nets and since they have their pick they will definitely will want to beat them. This is a must win game for the Cavs.  If we beat them they probably won't get the number one seed. 

[Guest]

Last chance to secure a 7th spot with a loss...otherwise we basically 5th or 6th...just sayin..

[ViewsFromTheSquawk]

11 minutes ago, Spud2Nique said:

Last chance to secure a 7th spot with a loss...otherwise we basically 5th or 6th...just sayin..

Really rooting for the bad Hawks today.... Really want that 1st round matchup with Boston to happen again. 

[Guest]

43 minutes ago, ViewsFromTheSquawk said:

Really rooting for the bad Hawks today.... Really want that 1st round matchup with Boston to happen again. 

Me too...I would just like to play really well and hard and lose by one or two...I think..:-|

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Wurider05 said:

I am excited because we are going to get their best. This is a good test for us to see where we are heading into the playoffs. The Celtics have the Nets and since they have their pick they will definitely will want to beat them. This is a much win game for the Cavs.  If we beat them they probably won't get the number one seed. 

Actually the Nets already clinched the worst team and even if we beat the Cavs today, they own the tiebreaker vs the Celts and will most likely end up 1st regardless.

[lethalweapon3]

All for One, and One for All! Except for One...

I hope he at least got to partake in the continental breakfast.

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Schröder, Timmy, Taurean, Sap, and Dwight will be your starters for today.

No birthday ballin' for Ryan Kelly, as he's the designated inactive to pair with Thabo.

~lw3

[TheNorthCydeRises]

15 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

All for One, and One for All! Except for One...

I hope he at least got to partake in the continental breakfast.

~lw3

 

That's messed up.  How are you going to let that man go on the road trip, just to tell him at the hotel that he's been cut?   At least let that man get one more paycheck, so he can spend it at Strokers or Pin-Ups tonight.

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Win the game Hawks.  Stop letting these home fans go home all down and out.  Thursday night was great for the city.  Return the favor with a win today over our longtime nemesis.

Even if they win the last 2 home games, this will be the least amount of home wins in a season, since the 2006 - 2007 season.

Send the fans home right.  Win the damn game.   Forget what seed we end up at.  You have to beat whomever is in front of you.

[Thomas]

Wow, I'm a Dennis fan and have been most of the year but the chemistry is ugh right now and its almost like he is forcing Calderon to set the example as a point guard and then the Bembry/Baze experiments lurk in the shadows. We are truly a high school lab experiment this season and its almost playoffs time. Riding this Hawks snake thing is exhausting. 

[Lurker]

Dwight Howard has never had chemistry this season with Dennis Schröder. Trade his butt immediately after this season.

[Dnice]

If they wanted to throw the game, bench Dennis, Dwight and Paul again, at least the reserves had heart Friday night.

[Plainview1981]

1 hour ago, Lurker said:

Dwight Howard has never had chemistry this season with Dennis Schröder. Trade his butt immediately after this season.

Yep. Dennis needs to go. He isn't anything more than a slightly better version of Reggie Jackson.

 

Yes, I know you were talking about Howard, but Dennis isn't a starter on a really good team.

Edited April 9, 2017 by Hotlanta1981

[Lurker]

This comeback all came with Dwight Howard on the bench ***coughing***.

[Lurker]

The story is real simple, if a team has 5 shooters on the floor, Dwight can't be on the floor. If Tristan Thompson is out, Dwight is useless against the Cavs.