Cleveland @ Atlanta preview
State Farm Arena
Last Meeting ( Dec 31, 2021 ) Atlanta 121, Cleveland 118
The Cleveland Cavaliers will try to regain their momentum on Tuesday when they visit the staggering Atlanta Hawks.
The Cavaliers had their four-game winning streak broken on Saturday with a 103-93 loss at Philadelphia, their second stop on a four-game trip. Cleveland is 13-4 in its last 17 games.
Atlanta blew a 15-point first-half lead on the road in a 105-95 loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday. The Hawks have lost two straight and have gone 1-4 since beating Western Conference leading Phoenix on Feb. 3. The lone win during that stretch came against the short-handed Indiana Pacers, who had only eight available players after trade-deadline dealing.
This will be the third of four games between the clubs this season. Cleveland won the first meeting 101-95 on Oct. 23 and Atlanta prevailed 121-118 on Dec. 31. The final meeting will be March 31 at Atlanta.
The Cavaliers have since enhanced their lineup with addition of Caris LeVert, who was obtained in a pre-deadline trade with Indiana. He has averaged 14.7 points in three games since joining Cleveland.
Cleveland brings plenty of balance to the table. The Cavaliers are led by All-Star Darius Garland at 20.1 points per game and 8.0 assists. Garland has scored at least 20 points in eight of his last 10 games.
Jarrett Allen averages 16.2 points and a team-leading 11.1 rebounds. Evan Mobley (14.7 points) and Kevin Love (14.2) are among the nine members of the team who average double figures.
Love had 35 points and 11 rebounds in the most recent game with Atlanta. He needs eight points to reach 14,000.
The Cavaliers had a lack of energy in the 10-point loss to Philadelphia and could never overcome the 76ers hot start.
"The intensity of which you're going to have to play at (needs to be high) in order to compete with teams like this," Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "It was a clear message from the beginning of the game, the intensity they were coming with. These are the tests we talk about, and these are the lessons we have to learn. It's a matter of playing with force and playing with speed."
The Hawks also had a recent focus issue, getting outscored 42-23 in the third quarter against the Celtics when the complexion of the game changed.
"I thought in the third quarter we got distracted by the officiating," Atlanta coach Nate McMillan said. "I thought that was the difference in the game. We just were not able to recover from that."
Atlanta's Trae Young bounced back from a poor performance against San Antonio to produce 30 points and 10 assists, his 28th double-double of the season. Young scored 35 points against Cleveland in the last meeting. Bogdan Bogdanovic came off the bench against Boston to score a season-high 26 points.
The Hawks will be without John Collins for the second straight game because of a right foot strain. Collins is averaging 16.8 points and 7.9 rebounds, ranking second on the team in both categories. He is expected to miss three games.
--Field Level Media