Peachtree Hoops: Hawks recover from stumble with late run in victory over Cavaliers

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Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images

The Hawks recovered from letting a 21-point lead slip to secure a double-digit victory.

The Atlanta Hawks notched their second consecutive victory as they secured victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers, 112-101, at State Farm Arena on Wednesday night.

Saddiq Bey and Bogdan Bogdanovic both scored a team-high 23 points with Dejounte Murray adding 18 points. For the Cavaliers, Jarrett Allen led the visitors with 18 points. Isaac Okoro added 17 points.

Both teams found themselves in very similar positions heading into this fixture last night: both were on the second night of a back-to-back, both were traveling (the Cavs from Cleveland after their win against Boston, the Hawks from New York) and both teams are missing key personnel (Trae Young, Onyeka Okongwu, Kobe Bufkin, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Max Strus all notable absentees for both sides).

It was about as fair of a matchup as you could ask for in many respects; it was about who could step for whom in their respective absences and last night it was the Hawks’ supporting cast who stepped up in Young’s absence, and Murray’s struggles (shooting 33% from the field).

It was a closely contested first quarter as neither side showed signs that the travel or back-to-back was affecting their play — both sides shooting over 50% from the field in the opening frame. However, this would change dramatically in the second quarter as the Cavaliers hit a wall from three, shooting 2-of-14 from three in the second quarter, and although the Hawks shot 1-of-8 from three in the second alone, they still shot 56% from the field to outscore the Cavaliers 33-22 and take a double-digit lead into the locker room.

The Hawks would push their lead to 21 points in the third before the Cavaliers roared all back to even take a two point lead by the end of the third quarter, outscoring the Hawks 40-23. Not only did they lose the quarter itself but also lost Jalen Johnson to an ankle injury in the opening minutes of the second half, landing awkwardly on his right ankle as he contested a rebound:

“That was unfortunate for us,” said Saddiq Bey of the Johnson injury. “He means so much to our team, has a great positive impact every time he’s on the floor.”

The fourth quarter proved to be a close affair for much of its duration, the Hawks holding a 102-99 advantage with just over three minutes remaining. It was at this point the hosts blew the game open and created separation behind a 10-2 run to finish the game, so let’s take a look at it and see how the Hawks got this done and secured back-to-back victories against playoff-bound teams.

Bogdanovic stretches the lead to six points as he rises into a three with no hesitation despite the presence and contest of Darius Garland:

The Hawks catch a break on the other end of the floor as the Cavs move the ball and it ends in the hands of Caris LeVert, who has all the time and space he could want behind the arc but misses the three:

This was one of many missed threes from the Cavaliers last night — 0-of-11 in the fourth quarter.

The Hawks commit a turnover, off of which Okoro scores to reduce the lead to four points. The Hawks respond through their top two scorers of last night, as Bogdanovic and Bey combine in the screening action. With Bogdanovic finding Bey after he’s shown a second body on the screen, the Cavaliers don’t do a good enough job getting back to Bey who hits the three:

The Hawks then produce a crucial defensive possession as they frustrate the Cavaliers’ attempts to drive inside as the clock begins to wind down. Bodies rotate and shift to any threat and eventually — with a couple of seconds remaining on the clock — Garland is forced to hoist a very deep three which doesn’t fall:

The Hawks find themselves in a short clock situation on the following possession and get bailed out by Allen’s indecision to go towards Clint Capela or cover the bigger offensive threat in Bey, and Capela finds Bey for the alley-oop layup:

In reply, the Cavaliers search for an opening through LeVert, and despite staunch defense initially from Hunter, LeVert gets the drop on him but leaves his left-handed layup short:

The Hawks turn the ball over on their following possession, but again the Cavaliers can’t take advantage as Garland’s attempted pass out is intercepted by Bogdanovic. He finds Hunter who drives and finishes with his left and finishes the game as the Hawks re-establish their double-digit lead and secure the 112-101 victory.

However, the victory is overshadowed somewhat by the injury to Jalen Johnson, whose status is yet to be updated going forward.

Postgame, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder described the loss of Johnson as ‘deflating’ but was pleased with the job Vit Krejci did in his stead and with how others stepped up in Johnson’s absence.

“It’s always hard to lose a player during the game, it’s a little deflating,” said Snyder postgame. “Vit came in and did a good job, made a couple plays even though it was just a couple of minutes it’s representative of what we got from everybody. I thought guys stepped up in their own way when they needed to. We had some guys play some heavy minutes and they did a good job. I think whenever you have adversity if you can continue to defend through it ...we had a drought there but we did a good job, we made it hard for them defensively. I thought the stretch in the third quarter when we fouled made it hard, but it’s a good win for a lot of reasons.”

“As a team we came together to try do the same things Jalen did on the court,” added De’Andre Hunter. “It’s a tough loss for us but hopefully he’ll be back soon.”

The two players who really did step up last night were Bey and Bogdanovic. Bey scored 10 points in the fourth quarter while 19 of Bogdanovic’s 23 points came in the second half.

“Both of them had a feel for what the team needed,” said Snyder of Bey and Bogdanovic. “Saddiq didn’t hesitate from three and he was able to attack the rim as well — De’Andre did the same thing. Bogi was determined to make plays; not only shooting, his mid-range, I thought he passed the ball well too when he drew a crowd. I think as much as anything those guys didn’t force themselves on the game. There’s a balance there when you feel your team needs you and you need a bucket, to find that opportunity and not be predetermined on with you’re going to do.”

Both were heavily involved down the stretch of this game, and both produced big plays that helped the Hawks across the line and the credit they received postgame was certainly deserved.

De’Andre Hunter also produced another steady performance off the bench, scoring 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field. Hunter is enjoying one of, if not, the most consistent stretch of his career shooting the ball. In his last eight games Hunter is averaging 18.4 points per game on 53.8% shooting from the field, 44% from three and 82.5% from the free throw line on 5.5 attempts per game.

When asked about this stretch, Snyder described what has helped Hunter succeed, including his health, his jumpshot, and his mindset.

“He’s so solid defensively,” said Snyder of Hunter. “We’ve been challenging him with different matchups. He’s worked hard not just to get healthy but to stay in shape and stay sharp and he’s letting the game come to him, beginning with him taking his three. He’s 6-8, so when he rises up there isn’t really a contested shot for him from there because he’s able to elevate on his jumpshot. I also think he’s attacking the rim. If he can’t get all the way there that’s when he’s able to pull up. His mindset, being aggressive, shooting ball and also being aggressive attacking the closeout and getting to the rim ... those are things he can do. It’s good to see him doing that. He’s playing with a lot of confidence. I really believe in him, I’ve told him that. I want him to play free, enjoy the game and embrace it. That’s what I see. His mindset is in a really good place.”

Snyder mentioned postgame that Hunter is still on a minute’s restriction but this was the first back-to-back Hunter has featured in since returning from injury and said he felt great after it. For now it seems he will continue to come off the bench and spoke as to why he thinks it’s been going well.

“I get to read the game coming off the bench,” said Hunter. “I get to see the mistakes guys are making, how to guard. Once I get in I try to capitalize on what I saw.”

Elsewhere, the play of Dejounte Murray has been disappointing of late. Hawks fans would have been forgiven for expecting him to produce a little more in the absence of Young but it hasn’t really materialized so far. He’s got others involved (nine assists last night) but scoring-wise hasn’t looked like the Murray from last year that could go and make eight threes in a game or go for 30-plus points. Last night Murray shot 7-of-21 from the field and 1-of-7 from three and he just doesn’t look quite like himself out there at the moment.

The Hawks have been able to notch two straight wins in two games where Murray has either been quiet or not shot well. In a close game last night, it was Bogdanovic and Bey who made most of the clutch plays. Murray’s last involvement that involved in a made basket (be it for himself or an assist) came when he assisted Bruno Fernando with 8:03 to go in the fourth. Murray shot 1-of-6 in the fourth and had a turnover late in the game too, but it’s just concerning from the Hawks’ side that he couldn’t make his presence a little more established in a close game. In the fourth quarter against the Knicks, he produced some timely buckets, but it was a bit of a regression game from Murray last night.

From the Cavaliers’ side, Darius Garland shooting 5-of-14 must have been disappointing. In the absence of Mitchell he’s the one who needed to step up and the Cavaliers didn’t any strong offensive game from an individual to push them over the top. They deserve credit for their 21-point comeback in the third. They had a balanced scoring effort that kept them lingering in the final frame but didn’t have enough firepower or that go-to player in the fourth to take them home.

Shooting 10-of-44 from from three also did nothing to help their cause of course, nor did shooting 0-of-11 from three in the final quarter — essentially a reverse Knicks situation for the Hawks from Tuesday.

Limiting the Cavaliers’ effectiveness from three was a point of emphasis from the Hawks last night and caught a break with Sam Merrill (a 43.8% three-point shooter heading into last night) going 0-of-9 last night.

“It’s an emphasis, the way they shoot the ball with Wade and Merrill; over 80% of their shots are from three,” said Snyder. “I thought they got loose a few too many times. We’ve had — particularly down the stretch — people have shot much higher than their expected (percentages). I won’t say we’ve been unlucky because you make your own luck, but I think just working to contest shots, sometimes you’re rewarded for that. There were possessions where we had multiple efforts and that’s part of the communication.”

The Hawks certainly caught some breaks because just like the Knicks game at times they allowed some pretty open threes that went unpunished, but they did get some good contests up too, and Snyder was pleased with the defense of those who played last night.

“Everybody who was on the floor I thought defended,” said Snyder. “That was the biggest thing for me. Even though they were coming back, and they did, I thought we kept our focus on the defensive end and eventually we were able to see the ball go in, once we stopped fouling.”

“Our defense carried us in that last quarter so it’s asking how can we do that for four quarters,” added Bey. “I think we did that for most of the game, just a stretch where they came back so it was good to show a lot of resilience.”

The Knicks victory, I’d still argue that it was a case Hawks simply taking care of business against a significantly shorthanded opponent, but this victory definitely deserves a lot more credit. Even if Mitchell, Mobley and Strus were absent, the Hawks were down personnel themselves, and then lost Johnson for basically half of the game. Psychologically, to know you let slip a 21-point lead within the same quarter and to bounce back and go on a run when it mattered, the Hawks deserve credit for this victory. This was a quality victory.

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The Hawks (28-34) are back in action on Friday night as they make the trip to Memphis for a matchup against the Grizzlies (22-41).

Until next time...

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