Wrap-Up – Saturday night’s matchup between Cleveland and Atlanta was billed as a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals. Unfortunately for the Hawks, it turned out to be exactly that.
The Wine and Gold – who swept the 60-win Hawks out of the playoffs last year, beating them by 30 in the final contest in Cleveland – had their way with Atlanta again on Saturday night, running out to a 26-point lead and holding off the Hawks down the stretch – taking the 109-97 win to remain perfect this season at The Q.
Four Cavalier starters notched double-figure scoring on Saturday night, and the fifth one (Tristan Thompson) led both squads with 16 boards as Cleveland improved to 7-0 at Quicken Loans Arena – winning 27 of their last 28 on the corner of Huron and Ontario.
Kevin Love led the Wine and Gold with 25 points, going 9-for-15 from the floor and doubling-up for the sixth time in seven home contests with 11 boards.
LeBron James, who didn’t score his first points until the 5:20 mark of the second quarter and didn’t break double-figures until the fourth period, still finished just two assists from a triple-double – finishing with 19points on 8-for-15 shooting, adding 11 boards, eight helpers and a pair of blocked shots.
In one of the game’s lighter moments, LeBron – in a moment of frustration after a Cavaliers’ miss midway through the third quarter – simply subbed himself out of the game as both teams headed back down to the other end. James was whistled for a team technical and was eventually substituted out by Richard Jefferson.
Already down a pair of starters – Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert, still recovering from off-season injuries – the Cavaliers were also without Timofey Mozgov, who strained his right deltoid on Thursday night and might be out up to two weeks, and Mo Williams, who’s nursing a sore right ankle.
In their place, Coach Blatt inserted Tristan Thompson and Matthew Dellavedova into the starting lineup, and – as they did against Atlanta in the ECF last spring – each passed with flying colors. Thompson, who averaged 11.8 points and 11.0 boards against Atlanta in the playoffs, grabbed a game-high 16 boards to go with nine points. Delly, who flummoxed Atlanta in last year’s four-game sweep, did so again on Saturday – adding 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting.
Once again, the Cavaliers bench came up big. Jared Cunningham and Richard Jefferson notched eight points apiece, with Jefferson going 4-of-6 from the floor. Anderson Varejao added seven points and three boards and James Jones – in his typically-efficient fashion – finished with six points in five minutes, going 2-of-2 from beyond the arc.
Cleveland stymied Atlanta on the boards, 51-38, and held the Hawks to just 37 percent shooting. Even with their starting center in street clothes, the Cavaliers outscored the Hawks in the paint, 44-30, and in second-chance scoring, 17-12.
Turning Point — As they did on Thursday night against Milwaukee, the Wine and Gold jumped on the Hawks early and never let up – allowing the Hawks exactly one lead on Saturday – a one-point edge, 17-16, with 4:53 to play in the first quarter.
By the end of the first quarter, the Cavaliers had improved their lead to double-digits. They led by as many as 17 in the second period and extended it to as many as 26 in the third before Atlanta made a mini-run at the end of regulation.
By the Numbers – .947 … Cavaliers’ winning percentage over their last 38 games (36-2) when they top the century mark. They’ve also won 32 straight home games that they’ve scored over 100 points – dating back to March 15, 2014.
Quotable – LeBron James, on the team continuing to improve …
”We just want to continue to get better. I feel like we got better tonight, but there were a few possessions that didn’t go our way. We are continuing to play our game. If we continue to improve on things in practice and in film sessions, then we’ll be fine.”
Up Next – After drubbing the Hawks on Saturday night, the Cavaliers play one more at The Q – wrapping up the mini-homestand on Monday night when they welcome the Magic to Cleveland for the first time this season. The Wine and Gold hit the road for the Thanksgiving holiday – traveling to Toronto for a Wednesday night matchup with the Raptors, pausing for some turkey and trimmings on Thursday and closing out the week with a back-to-back – beginning Friday night against the Hornets in Charlotte and wrapping up against the Brooklyn Nets next Saturday at The Q.
