Hawks are playoff-bound, clinch top-six seed with win over Cavaliers

The Hawks will head to the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. After downing the Cavaliers 124-102 on Friday night at State Farm Arena, the Hawks will bypass the Play-In Tournament for the first time since 2021.

With their win, the Hawks (46-35) officially clinched a spot in the top six, as well as the Southeast Division title.

They came out aggressively, not looking to miss a chance at securing their spot in the playoffs after falling to the Cavaliers on Wednesday. Cleveland rested Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen for the second of the late-season meetings.

But the Hawks still had to work in the first half to hold off the Cavaliers. They managed to do so decisively in the second half.

Quick stats: CJ McCollum had 29 points after scoring 25 in the first half. Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jalen Johnson both had 18 points, while Johnson grabbed nine rebounds. Dyson Daniels had a triple-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists.

Key moment

The Hawks have not come out of halftime with the right energy as of late, allowing the Knicks and the Cavaliers to get back into games. But on Friday, the Hawks began the third quarter aggressively, quickly adding on to their 13-point lead.

Alexander-Walker opened the quarter with a 3, then made a layup with 10:36 left in the frame.

The Hawks really settled in one minute later, going on a 10-0 run that pushed their lead to 76-55 after Alexander-Walker forced a steal and made the fast break layup on the other end.

They tacked on to that lead midway through with back-to-back 3s from Gabe Vincent and Alexander-Walker, before Johnson completed a 3-point play and a 3. The Hawks extended their lead to 31 points, all while the Cavaliers pulled their starters.

Highlight play

Good things tend to happen for the Hawks when they crash the glass.

Toward the end of the third quarter, Hawks big Mo Gueye got up and slammed down a put back with some serious force.

With 16 seconds to play, Jonathan Kuminga fired off a 3, but it hit the front of the rim. Gueye leaped up and slammed down the offensive rebound as former Hawks center Larry Nance Jr. jumped up to challenge him.

What they said

“That’s where you go to those guys and what they sacrificed for one another. They believed that we could do this. They gave what they needed to collectively for us to have this opportunity.” -- Hawks coach Quin Snyder on the team clinching a top-six seed after many iterations of the roster.

“That was the goal. The goal is to get into the playoffs. And now for us, it’s about getting healthy, making sure everybody is ready to go and going, so we can ramp up. And I think, we did a great job of rallying together and executing the game plan and bleeding all momentum, starting in January, February, whenever, whenever we started kind of putting things together.” -- McCollum on clinching a playoff spot.

“Feels good, obviously. But the win is better, for sure. Just the way we played tonight, me being the connector -- shout out CJ and Keil for hitting shots that way I get my assists up. So, I think the way we play and when they cross match with the five on me a lot of times, playing through me, screening actions and stuff, so pick and roll and rebound and get assist from like hand ups and stuff like that.” -- Daniels on his triple-double.

Up next

The Hawks wrap up the regular season on Sunday when they travel to Miami to face the Heat.

Standings watch

The Hawks will head to the playoffs. But they have to wait until Sunday to learn their opponent in the first round.