Just one game after they dominated the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers played a disappointing game by their standards. They played at home on Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks team that was resting all five of its starters. 20 thousand fans at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland expected their team to win its fifth straight game, but that was not the case on Friday night.
Shorthanded Hawks stun the defending champions
The Hawks played without Howard, Schroder, Millsap, Bazemore and Sefolosha in this game but that didn't prevent them from stunning the defending NBA champions on the road.
It was a close game through the first two quarters. Atlanta had the lead at the end of the first quarter 21-19 and score at halftime was 52-50 for the away team. Hawks were up by five points at the end for the third quarter 83-78, and it seemed like this game will go down to the wire.
Tim Hardaway Jr. showed up big in the fourth quarter and made sure that his team goes away with the victory. He scored 15 of his 22 points in the final quarter as the Hawks outscored the Cavs 31-22 in that period. The final score was 114-100 for the Atlanta team that shot 43.2% from the three point line in this one. They made 16 threes and outrebounded the Cavs 42-38. Atlanta dished out a season-high 39 assists.
Six Atlanta players finished the game with at least 10 points. Hardaway scored 22, and Mike Dunleavy helped with 20. Mike Muscala finished with 13 points and six rebounds while Ilyasova added 13 points and seven rebounds.
After beating the Boston Celtics on Thursday night, this was another big win for the Hawks. They are now at the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference, one game in front of the Milwaukee Bucks.
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Shocking loss for the Cavs
It was LeBron James who led the way for the Cavs again. He had an excellent all-around performance with 27 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists and played 41 minutes in this one. Kyrie Irving finished the game with 18 points and seven assists while Kevin Love added 15 points and 15 rebounds.
Cavaliers shot poorly from the three-point line as they connected on just nine of their 36 three-point attempts. They also had 14 turnovers and lost the game in a shocking fashion. This was totally unexpected for the Cavs considering the way they dominated the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night. They remain at the top of the Eastern Conference, and they will face the Hawks again on Sunday. The last time they played on the road against the Hawks, Cavaliers made an NBA-record 25 three-pointers.
