The Hawks achieved a new feat by signing a second victory in a row against the Cavaliers who had only lost once until then. Like Wednesday evening in Ohio, Quin Snyder's men dominated the proceedings in the second half. With 8 players at 7 points or more, and 32 assists, danger came from everywhere, and Cleveland ended up cracking again.
As in the last confrontation between the two teams, Atlanta played its luck bravely, counting up to 10 points in advance in the first half, riding on its skill from afar (6/14) and the big passage of De'Andre Hunter at the end of the second quarter (48-38).
While Cleveland was particularly suffering in this exercise (3/19), Donovan Mitchell, then at 0/10, planted a 2/2 from afar, imitated in stride by Darius Garland who sent two 3-point baskets from the center -city to allow the Cavs to return to -2 at the break (52-50).
Cleveland craque
The Hawks regained their pep as soon as they returned from the locker room with Zaccharie Risacher hitting the mark with a 3-pointer, four baskets from Clint Capela including two furious dunks, a spectacular flight from Jalen Johnson on the counter-attack and two new 3-pointers from De' Andre Hunter and Trae Young to make it 75-59.
Caris LeVert tried to get his team back on track with two 3-point baskets, but Atlanta responded with Bogdan Bogdanovic behind the arc and a 2+1 from De'Andre Hunter. Onyeka Okongwu also made his contribution, with three baskets in a row including a devastating dunk to end the third quarter at +20 for the locals, 91-71!
Despite the pressure from the Cavs at the end of the match, Atlanta was able to count on Jalen Johnson and Zaccharie Risacher twice then on 3-pointers from the Young-Daniels-Okongwu trio to ensure a second success in a row against the leader of the Eastern Conference (117-101).
WHAT TO REMEMBER
Atlanta, the Cavs’ bane! The Hawks had already surprised everyone in Ohio on Wednesday by putting in a big second half to win on the floor of the undisputed leader of the Eastern Conference. For their second confrontation in a row, Atlanta caused another sensation with a third quarter controlled to perfection (39-23)! This is only the third defeat of the season for Cleveland, and therefore already the second against Atlanta.
De'Andre Hunter on his way. The Hawks winger has confirmed his return to form for two weeks and has just had his two best matches of the season. After his 26 points on Wednesday, he once again turned into a perfect X factor with 23 points on 7/12 shooting, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. With the return of Bogdan Bogdanovic, about two weeks ago Atlanta also found certainties and a significant second wind coming off the bench.
Donovan Mitchell's nightmare. A strange match on his part, with a 0/10 to start, two 3-point baskets to go before the break, and again the black hole, like his team. The leader of the Cavs thus delivered one of his worst performances of the season, 5/23 shooting for 12 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists. Atlanta didn't ask for that much!
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How to read the stats? Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; O = offensive rebound; D=defensive rebound; T = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; +/- = Point differential when the player is on the field; Pts = Points; Eval: player evaluation calculated from positive actions – negative actions.
