A brief recap of the Hawks’ 16th win in 18 games, an interesting conquest of visiting Cavs:
How the game was won: Paul Millsap scored 10 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, and Jeff Teague played one of his most complete games on the way to 23 points and 11 assists as Atlanta played much as it had during a recent streak where they won 14 of 15 games before a 30-point loss Friday to the visiting Bucks.
Atlanta led by 10 at halftime only to have Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving lead the LeBron James-less Cavs to within a basket five times in the fourth quarter. Irving scored 22 of his 35 points in the second half.
Turning point: The Cavs trailed by double digits in much of the third quarter, but last pulled within a shot of Atlanta when James Jones hit his third 3-pointer off the bench with 4:44 left in the game to shrink the Hawks' lead to 95-93. From there, Millsap and Teague combined to scored the Hawks' final 14 points to push the Hawks into safety.
Number: 50.6. Atlanta made 50.6 percent of its shots, including 30-of-50 inside the 3-point arc.
Next: The Hawks will take flight, and hit the road for a three-game Western road trip featuring games at Utah Friday, Portland Saturday, and at the Clippers on Monday.
About the Author
