Cavs at Hawks preview and gamethread
The Cavs dropped their second game of the season to the Hawks and are looking for revenge.
The Cavaliers will look to regroup from their loss to Atlanta on Wednesday night in their third NBA Cup game, once again facing the Hawks on the road.
Who: Cleveland Cavaliers (17-2) at Atlanta Hawks (8-11)
Where: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA
When: 2:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 29
TV: NBA TV, Fanduel Sports Network Ohio (previously Bally Sports), NBA League Pass
Line: Cavs - 6.5
Expected Cavs starting lineup: Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Isaac Okoro, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen.
Cavs injury report: Max Strus - OUT (ankle), Emoni Bates - OUT (knee), Dean Wade - OUT (ankle), Caris LeVert- QUESTIONABLE (ankle), Luke Travers - OUT (G League), JT Thor - OUT (G League)
Expected Hawks starting lineup: Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson, Zaccharie Risacher, Clint Capela
Hawks injury report: Trae Young - PROBABLE (achilles), Cody Zeller - OUT (personal), Seth Lundry - OUT (ankle), Dominick Barlow - OUT (G League), Mouhamed Gueye - OUT (G League), Keaton Wallace - OUT (G League)
What to Watch for
Defending the three-point line
The Cavs were woefully bad Wednesday night against this same Atlanta team when defending the three-point line, a hole in their otherwise good defensive armor. The Hawks shot 48% from beyond the arc, well above their usual 34% (21st in the league). Part of that is due to the Cavs simply missing key wing defenders like Dean Wade and Max Strus, but another, more alarming trait is that they simply do not defend the three-point line as hard. With two bigs patrolling the paint, the Cavs try to funnel opposing offenses toward the paint and dare them to take a chance against the likes of Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley.
Luckily for Cleveland, Atlanta is not a tremendous shooting team. They are much more likely to shoot 30% from deep than the 48% they shot the other night, but regardless it is a bad trend to have. This will not fly in the playoffs, where nearly every team is going to at least be respectable from three-point territory.
Silencing Trae Young
While Trae Young did not have a great shooting night Wednesday against Cleveland, he made his presence felt while passing the ball with 22 assists. Young can take over a game not just with 39-foot threes (and he did hit one late in the fourth quarter, a dagger at that), but also as a passer. The Hawks are greater than the sum of their parts, with quality players like Jalen Johnson and De’Andre Hunter that are maximized by the playmaking of Young. The Cavs did not do enough to silence Young, who has a knack for inflicting pain on Cleveland.
The Cavs have been relying on their offense to bail them out of tough situations. That will not always work, nor has it been the recipe for success in the past. The defense has been their bread and butter, and Kenny Atkinson would be wise to try and lean back into that when things are getting tough. It starts with defending Young harder and forcing the other, less talented players to beat you.