Feb 16, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving reacts after winning the 2013 NBA three-point contest at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

If you would have asked me for a 3-point contest prediction for Saturday night, it would have taken me exactly 4 names before I mentioned Kyrie Irving. See, Irving was the best overall basketball player in the competition (by a wide margin, mind you), but the mind doesn’t exactly jump to Irving when 3-point specialists are considered.

The Cleveland point guard is a career 41.2% three-point shooter, who has even peaked at 42.5% so far this season, but he’s a game scorer/shooter who handles the ball a lot over a pure spot-up shooter. Then, he put on an absolute display from behind the arc on Saturday night, and it didn’t feel like a fluke. At all.

Irving coasted to an 18-point first round, but exploded in round two for 23 points, which was good for the best round of the night by any shooter. He converted 14 of his first 15 shots in the round (including the first seven), and not even an overly impressive 20-point showing from Matt Bonner could run down Irving. The newly renamed “Red Mamba” was the leader after the first round (with 19 points), and put up an equally impressive 20-point performance in round two, but it wasn’t enough. Irving maintained his shooting consistency throughout the night, seemingly using a “contest-friendly” stroke with less leg explosion, while Bonner seemed to tire visibly through the event.

I’d be remiss (especially in this space) if I didn’t mention the fact that Kyle Korver’s absence reigned over the night in my mind. The best shooter in the NBA (read this for evidence) wasn’t involved, and while Irving’s performance stands on its own, it would’ve been interesting to see how Korver performed. Paul George was presumably the Korver replacement, and he disappointed in a big way, looking overmatched for the competition, and generating only 10 points in his first round effort.

In the end, the night belonged to Kyrie Irving, and he went a long way in disproving doubters that thought he shouldn’t have even been selected. I won’t make the mistake of ignoring Irving in a shooting competition again, but it begs the question. What can’t he do?

Money. Overtime. Mandatory Credit: Paul Abell-US PRESSWIRE

This is basically how it went.

Hawks got off to a slow start. Cavs got off to a hot start. Joe Johnson struggles. Cavs lead by as many as 16 points. Hawks come back from that deficit, lead by 1 at halftime, thanks to Josh Smith and Jerry Stackhouse. Halftime. Joe continues to struggle. Josh Smith continues to try and carry the team. Cavs and Hawks keep exchanging blows. 4th quarter. Josh Smith takes more shots and puts team on his back. Joe Johnson continues to struggle. Hawks and Cavs keep exchanging blows. Hawks down 3. Joe Johnson hits three pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. Overtime. Joe Johnson and Josh Smith making big shots. Kirk Hinrich makes bad decision by turning the ball over and committing a flagrant foul. Cavs are up by 6. Joe hits a 3. Josh Smith makes an “and-1″. Tie game. Tristan Thompson fouled. Makes 1 of 2 free throws. Cavs up 1. Joe Johnson makes another big shot, Hawks up 1. Irving takes a jump shot, miss. Alonzo Gee gets a GW tip opportunity. Miss. Hawks win by 1.

A game that I’ll like to forget to say the least.

Final Score: Cavaliers 102 | Hawks 103 OT
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SDS Player of the Game (Jerry Stackhouse)
Josh Smith and Joe Johnson easily had the better stat lines, but you can have complaints about the way they did play last night (you’ll see below). For Stackhouse? You can’t, simply because he did the best that he could in the opportunity that he got. That, and because well, I don’t ever expect much from him.

Also, I just had to give it to him because this is probably his last chance of ever winning one (not that it’s such an honor to).

In 11 minutes of playing time, Jerry Stackhouse scored and tied a season high 10 points. He scored 8 of those points in the last 3 minutes of the 2nd quarter which was huge in the Hawks’ comeback from a 16 point deficit. Stackhouse also tallied a steal and an assist in those 3 minutes as well.

Josh Smith
It was a career night for Josh Smith. He tied a career high, playing 51 minutes and he got a new career high in field goal attempts (29).

Josh Smith shot a lot tonight and didn’t see the ball go in very much, going 10-29 from the field.

However, you just can’t look at that and say Josh Smith forced shots and had another sub par game. Because he didn’t (at least for the latter part). Josh Smith played hard. When the Cavaliers were up 16 points, and when it looked like the Cavs were about to run away with this game in the first half, Josh Smith was once again the spark that led to a Hawks come back.

Josh Smith played hard, and it showed in his rebounds, as he grabbed 17 out of the Hawks 38 rebounds.

Did I mention that he also went 12-14 from the free throw line and scored 5 of the Hawks’ 12 points in overtime?

Yeah, it was ugly to see Josh Smith take shot after shot and see him miss so much, but you take Josh Smith out of this game, the Hawks would have easily been blown out (by the Cavaliers!).

Josh Smith finished with 32 points, 17 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks.

Joe “Superman” Johnson
Joe Johnson scored 22 points in 7-19 shots. That’s not something to harp about if you’re just looking at the boxscore.

Joe played terrible in the first 47 minutes of the game. Cleveland really turned up the defensive pressure on him and made him miss 10 out of his first 12 shots, and forced Joe Johnson to pass the ball.

However, Clark Kent went into the booth and came out with his cape on with about 1 minute left in the game. With the Hawks down 2 with 1:11 left in the fourth quarter, Joe Johnson hit a three to put the Hawks up 1. Cleveland made two consecutive field goals and now the Hawks found themselves down 3, with only 5 seconds left. Once again, Joe bailed the Hawks out by hitting a three at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

In overtime, Joe continued his heroic play, scoring 7 of the Hawks’ 12 points in overtime, including the go ahead and eventually game winning basket with 18 seconds left in the game.

Overall, sure, Joe Johnson finished 7-19. Not great. But in the last minute of the game and the entire overtime period, Joe went 5-6 from the field for 13 points. That’s impressive.

Joe had a rough shooting night, but it’s hard to criticize him when he stepped up late in the game. I know one can argue that the Hawks wouldn’t even be in that situation if Joe played better in the first 47 minutes of the game, but he didn’t. But he did make up for it. All that matters is, is that Joe Johnson led his team to another victory with his heroic play late in the game. To criticize Joe Johnson on the way he played, even though he was the best player on the court in the most critical parts of the game, is reaching a “hater” level.

Joe Johnson finished with 22 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks, and 0 turnovers.

Wait, this guy is only 19 years old?!
Kyrie Irving is going to be 20 years old in Friday, but it’s still unbelievable to say that this guy is still on his “teens”. He’s just unbelievable to watch. I was skeptic when the Cavaliers drafted him, but it looks like they really knew what they were doing.

In 42 minutes of playing time, Irving had a near triple-double posting a statline of 29 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists. The 7 turnovers he had hurt his team, but you can’t deny that he’s the clear leader and the clear MVP of that team.

Over/under: Kyrie Irving will be the best PG in the NBA in 3 seasons. I say over, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s under.

Please, no more overtime games….

• Kirk Hinrich: 38 minutes
• Jeff Teague: 44 minutes
• Joe Johnson: 45 minutes
• Zaza Pachulia: 48 minutes
• Josh Smith: 51 minutes

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Celtics & Hawks Players & Coaches Quotes/Reactions:

Joe Johnson on his three pointer that put the game into overtime:

It was a great play that coach [Larry Drew] drew up … I was surprised when I turned and looked that I was that wide open. ”Fortunately for us, it worked. I got a great look. I just tried to set the ball right in my hand, and I got it off, got a great look, and it went down for me.  was surprised when I turned and looked that I was that wide open. All I was thinking about was just getting it up. I got a great look and it went down.

 

Coach Byron Scott on the late game collapse:

We gave up a 3 and a three-point play while up six in overtime so within 30 seconds it was a tied ball game … which is something we just can’t do … We gave them the game. We just made some bad decisions at the end.

 

Larry Drew on the win:

That was a little bit too close for comfort. I think that’s a heck of a win for us, particularly the way we won. We came out that first quarter very lethargic. We allowed them to get off to a fast start. Our defense was non-existent. We didn’t put up any resistance. I told these guys before the game even started that we can’t go out and play the names on that jersey. They’re going to play hard. They’re still in the playoff run. They’ve not been eliminated. They’re still in the playoff hunt, and they’ve been playing well. When we came out, we didn’t play with a sense of urgency, which is really disappointing to me.

 

Josh Smith’s thoughts about the game:

Fatigue was definitely a factor in that game. I played the whole second half including overtime. ”It was a game we had to win. Coming off a tough loss to the Boston Celtics, we wanted to come out and try to get a win tonight. They jumped on us early on, we came back in the second quarter. It was a tug of war match through the second half. I have to take my hat off to Joe (Johnson). He knocked down some big shots and made some big plays in those extra possessions.

 

Byron Scott on the decision not to foul at the end of regulation:

We figured we would just play solid defense at the end of regulation instead of taking the foul. They did a good job of getting a good look at it. We gave them the game.

 

Josh Smith on Joe Johnson’s play late in the game:

It gave us life. It gave us a chance to try to prove ourselves and get a win. We had to dig down deep. We were down six I think with a minute and a half to go. Just the fight in our team, the will to not lose this game, we displayed that tonight.

 

Twitter Reaction(s):

Big plays by Joe and Josh down the stretch, solid game by Z. Go Hawks!

— Al Horford (@Al_Horford) March 22, 2012

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Extra Short Notes/Box Score Watching:

• Zaza’s Pachulia’s 6 game streak of grabbing 10 or more rebounds ends as he only grabbed 7 points. Scored 14 points though. Needs to finish better at the rim.
• Hinrich made some crucial mistakes in OT, and contributed only 10 points in 4-13 shooting. Also fouled out.
• Jeff Teague contributed 12 points, 7 assists, and 4 steals. Solid statline, but had trouble guarding Irving (like everyone else).
• Tracy McGrady played 9 minutes?!
• Jason Collins played 5 minutes and was a -12 on the court. How is that even possible?
• Welcome back Willie Green. Thanks for your 2 points in 15 minutes.
• Former Hawk, Donald Sloan, contributed 2 points and 2 assists in 11 minutes.
• The Hawks record is now (27-20) and they still maintain their 6th seed spot.
• The Hawks are now only half (.5) a game behind the Indiana Pacers (5th seed).
• The Hawks now post a record of (14-7) in home games this season.
• With this win and an Orlando Magic win, the Hawks continue to be behind the Orlando Magic (3rd seed) by 2.5 games.
• With this win, the Hawks are now ahead by 2 games against the Boston Celtics  (7th seed).
• Hawks are now 7-5 in the month of March. 7 games left in March.

Jan 21, 2012; Atlanta, GA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (right) gets fouled by Atlanta Hawks center Zaza Pachulia (left) during the first half at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Josh D. Weiss-US PRESSWIRE

Who?: Cleveland Cavaliers (10th in East) vs Atlanta Hawks (6th in East)

When?: March 21 2012; 7:30 PM (Eastern Time)

Where?: Philips Arena (Atlanta, GA)

How?: SportSouth HD (TV) & 680 AM (93.7 radio)

Other Atlanta Hawks Coverage: Atlanta Hawks Fan Site, AJC Blog, Peachtree Hoops (SB Nation), Hoopinion (TrueHoop)

FanSided’s Cleveland Cavaliers Blog :  Right Down Euclid

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Projected Starting Lineups:

Cleveland Cavaliers:

PG: Kyrie Irving | SG: Anthony Parker | C: Tristan Thompson | PF: Antawn Jamison | SF: Alonzo Gee

Atlanta Hawks:

PG: Jeff Teague | SG: Kirk Hinrich | C: Zaza Pachulia | PF: Josh Smith | SF: Joe Johnson

Injury/Inactive Players Report:

Cleveland: Anderson Varejao (right wrist) is out. Daniel Gibson (ankle sprain) is questionable.

Atlanta: Al Horford (left pectoral surgery), Vladimir Radmanovic (back), Marvin Williams (hip flexor) and Jannero Pargo (appendicitis) are out. Ivan Johnson (personal reasons) is questionable. Willie Green (hamstring) is expected to make his debut return.

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Current Records/Streak & Hot, Lukewarm, or Cold:

Records: The Cleveland Cavaliers are (17-26) and the Atlanta Hawks are (26-20).

Streak: The Cavs are riding a 1 game win streak while the Hawks are on a 1 game losing streak.

Away/Home: The Cavs are (8-12) on the road, and the Hawks are (13-7) at home.

Against .500+ teams: The Cleveland Cavaliers only post a record of (8-15) against winning teams this season.

Against non-winning teams: The Atlanta Hawks post an impressive record of (18-4) against non-winning teams this season.

Cleveland Cavaliers- Unknown. They’re on a 1 game winning streak since they beat the New Jersey Nets on the road, but before that game, they were riding a 3 game losing streak.

Atlanta Hawks- Cool. After the horrible offensive outing against the Celtics, they’re certainly not hot. They’re not cold though just because it’s only a 1 game losing streak.

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Season/Past Season Series:

This will be the third and last meeting between the two teams. This is also the 2nd time the Hawks are hosting the Cavs this season.

The Hawks are 2-0 against the Cavs in this season’s series, beating them by a combined 41 point margin.

The Hawks have also won three games in a row vs Cleveland in Philips Arena prior to this game.

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3 Things I’m Looking Out For:

• Joe Johnson’s hot shooting.  Joe had another good shooting night vs the Celtics on Monday (especially in the 4th quarter). You have to think that he’ll continue to play well as he’s had a pretty easy time with the Cleveland Cavaliers this season. Joe scored 25 points and 28 points in the two blow out games against the Cavs. I even named him the SDS Player of the Game in those two games. Anthony Parker, Alonzo Gee, and maybe even Daniel Gibson will be given the task to guard Joe, and frankly, none of them can guard him alone. If the Cavs want to slow down Joe, they’ll have to send some double teams his way.
• Josh Smith. If the Cavs indeed double team Joe Johnson, Josh Smith has to step up. He’s played pretty sub-par to what he’s capable of in the past two games. He’s been filling up the stat sheet, yes, but he could be doing a lot better. He could be rebounding more, helping out on D more, and taking better shot selections. If the Cavs focus on Joe Johnson and forces Josh Smith to carry the team, Josh Smith has to play better than what he has shown the past two games if the Hawks are to win this game.
• Kyrie Irving.  Any time you face the Cavs, a player you have to watch out for is Kyrie Irving. He’s clearly the leader and the center piece of the team. In the two games the Hawks have faced Irving, Irving has scored 18 points and 19 points. He also got his first career double-double against the Hawks. If Jeff Teague, Kirk Hinrich, and the Hawks can slow him down, they’ll put themselves in a good position to win this game.

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