The Atlanta Hawks handed the Cleveland Cavaliers their first loss of the 2016-17 NBA season to the score of 110-107 at the Quicken Loans Arena. The win snaps the Hawks' 11-game losing streak against the defending champions.
The losing streak dates back to two seasons ago and includes two sweeps in the playoffs. During the streak, Al Horford was still with the Atlanta Hawks. Although Horford was a versatile defender, he didn't pose a threat as a rim protector as much as Dwight Howard posed in the win. And because Howard is a much bigger player, the Cavaliers had to put big bodies on him, which freed up Paul Millsap. The less bigger guys like Kevin Love and LeBron James had to guard him and those matchups are more favorable for him.
The Atlanta Hawks' offense was led by Dennis Schroder's 28, Kent Bazemore's 25, and Millsap's 21. Although Howard only had seven points, he managed to grab 17 board, blocked three shots, and was actively setting screens and contesting shots.
The Hawks led for most of the game but the Cavaliers wasn't going to go down without a fight. With just under two minutes left in the final frame, the Hawks were up 106-97. Kyrie Irving made his only 3-pointer of the game to make it 106-100. Then James followed it with a 3-pointer of his own to make 106-103 with just 47 seconds left.
The Atlanta Hawks answered back with a jump shot by Millsap off of a Schroder bounce pass to put them ahead by five. With just 25 seconds left, Love converted an and-1 to make it a two-point game. On the next possession, the Hawks milked the clock and Bazemore put the game away with a step-back jumper to put them up by four points with just 6.8 seconds left in the game.
The trio of James, Love, and Irving led the scoring for the Cavaliers with 23, 24, and 29 respectively. However, their efforts weren't enough as they didn't have enough production from elsewhere except from Channing Frye who had 13 points.
"We're playing Atlanta at home," said Love. "We know they're going to be gunning for us, especially after the history that we've had. So I don't if it's a respect thing. We just didn't play good enough basketball tonight," he said.
"We battled through," said Sefolosha. "We had our run and they had their run. We didn't crack. We were able to impose our will and win the game," he added. For more NBA 2016-17 news and updates, keep it here on Gamenguide!
