The Atlanta Hawks were in action on Friday evening to face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the final game of their NBA Cup group stage play. Unfortunately for the Hawks, they’ve been eliminated from advancing, so this was basically just another regular-season game for them.
The Hawks were without Kristaps Porzingis in this one as he was ruled out with an illness, so Onyeka Okongwu started in his place.
The team started off slow with three turnovers and zero points, and saw themselves down 7-0. They started to find a rhythm after some time doing what they do best, which is run the floor. Zaccharie Risacher got a dunk over De’Andre Hunter in transition.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker pulled up for this 3-pointer to extend the Hawks’ lead.
The Hawks really started to get into a groove, and got flashhy with a few of their plays, and Risacher found Mouhamed Gueye for an alley-oop dunk.
The Hawks had a lead as much as 13 points in the first, and they maintained it going into the second. Things got spicy early in the second, when Hunter dunked on Gueye, and the two got tangled up going down the court. Both were called for a foul, and Gueye got technical.
From there, the Cavaliers woke up and the Hawks fell asleep, which caused them to cough up their lead. Vit Krejci kept the Hawks afloat during that run with two 3-pointers, and they kept working on defense to get some stops.
Johnson found Alexander-Walker on the leak-out for an easy transition bucket.
Okongwu got it going from the perimeter and knocked down a 3-pointer to keep the Hawks in it.
It was a back-and-forth game down the stretch of the first half, and the Hawks went into the locker room trailing 62-60.
The Hawks fell in love with the lob passes in this game, and Johnson connected with Risacher for one early in the third. They turned defense into offense later on, with Daniels intercepting a pass from Hunter.
The Hawks kept using ball movement to their advantage and it paid off with this Johnson dunk.
Just like the first quarter, the Hawks were able to maintain their lead going into the next quarter, and they led 97-90 heading into the fourth. Krejci and Luke Kennard got some 3-pointers to go down early in the quarter to keep the Hawks afloat.
Donovan Mitchell went on a heat during a stretch to cut down the Hawks’ deficit, but it wasn’t enough for them to take the lead. The Hawks kept playing their game, and once again turned defense into offense for any easy bucket.
The Cavaliers did eventually end up making it a game, and actually took the lead at one point, but the Hawks were resilient enough to keep fighting.
The game was tied with less than two minutes left, and Johnson found Risacher in the corner for a 3-pointer to give the Hawks the lead. They got a stop on the other end, and Alexander-Walker followed it up with another 3-pointer to give the Hawks a six-point lead.
The Hawks were able to maintain the lead from there, and they walked away with the win.
Johnson finished with 29 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists, Alexander-Walker finished with 29 points, and Daniels finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists.
The Hawks will be back in action against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.