Hawks struggle to score in first test without Trae Young

The Hawks made just 6-of-23 3-point attempts (26.1%) in the loss.

The Atlanta Hawks lost 117-109 on the road to the Cleveland Cavaliers, struggling to score without star guard Trae Young. The Hawks made just 6-of-23 3-point attempts. (Erik Rank/AP)

By Lauren Williams

Updated 5 hours ago

CLEVELAND — The Hawks moved the ball; they attacked the basket. But they just couldn’t string together enough offensive possessions to best the Cavaliers on Sunday.

They fell to the Cavaliers, 117-109.

The Hawks, who have had four different starting lineups in their first seven games, simply could not take care of the ball. They had six turnovers in the first six minutes of Sunday’s game, before giving up 33 points off 23 turnovers to the Cavaliers.

“I don’t know if it fell apart at the end, as much as it was a steady drip of us turning the ball over,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “We’re trading 3s for twos. There’s a lot of things I think, to go into that be good, to have a few practices, and for these guys to kind of get a feel for each other. But it was a possession game in that respect, if we’re going to turn it over that much.”

But the Hawks competed, cutting multiple double-digit Cavaliers leads to a single possession. They even built a four-point lead with 1:11 to play in the first half.

The Hawks though have a lot to still figure out, especially now that they don’t have guard Trae Young for at least four weeks.

“I think that collectively we need to be more connected, and that’ll help us,” Snyder said. “So, a lot of guys are in kind of new spots, new positions, new roles, and they need to help each other, and they’re aware of that.”

Quick stats: Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell scored 37 points. Hawks forward Jalen Johnson led the team in scoring with 23 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Dyson Daniels had 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and four steals.

Hawks star Trae Young to miss several weeks following MRI results

Turning point

The Hawks kept the game within their sights down the stretch. But out of the timeout with 4:28 to play, Mitchell poked the ball loose and Cavaliers center Evan Mobley scored a layup on the other end.

Then Cavaliers’ Jaylon Tyson hit a 3-pointer in transition that extended their lead to 103-96 with 3:44 to play. It forced another Hawks timeout, but they came up empty out of it.

Though the Hawks scored before the final two minutes, they left Mobley open for a 3 that pushed the lead to 109-100 with 1:24 to play that iced the game.

Hawks test without Trae Young only just beginning

Highlight play

The Hawks have had some highlight dunks this season and they added another to reel with 57.1 seconds left in the third quarter.

Hawks forward Mo Gueye cut from the corner as Onyeka Okongwu bounced a pass to him. Gueye caught the ball in his left hand along the baseline, gathered it, went up and swung his body around the front of the rim to avoid the defender.

What they said

“Just moving the ball, moving bodies. Obviously, with Trae, he attracts so much attention when he’s on the floor. He can create advantages for us just by holding the ball. And obviously, we do have other guys that do that as well. But, I think with his presence out, we just got to continue to play together, play fast, be ourselves, not overthink anything, but just continue to play the right way and play together.” Hawks guard Luke Kennard on what helping each other in the absence of Trae Young looks like.