Atlanta Hawks Lose Shootout to Cavs

The Atlanta Hawks’ comeback fell short against the hot-shooting Cleveland Cavaliers.

In an intense and high-scoring game with no defense from the start to finish, the Atlanta Hawks fell short to the defending world champions, 135-130. In Kyle Korver’s return to Atlanta, the Cavaliers set an NBA record with 25 made three pointers with Kyrie Irving and LeBron James leading the way (43 points from Irving, 38 points from Lebron). For the Hawks, everyone played solid, but the story of the night from Atlanta’s view was Tim Hardaway Jr. putting up a career high 36 points.

The first few minutes of the game was all Cleveland, as they fired on all cylinders, going up 20-9 before Coach Budenholzer called for a timeout. At that point, it was in the back of everyone’s minds that this game could very well turn into a blowout. Tim Hardaway Jr. was then inserted and hit a couple of threes, giving the Hawks momentum. The quarter finished with the Hawks down by six. The next time the contest would be that close was with 2:46 left in the fourth quarter.

The second quarter saw the Cavs pulling away as James poured in 14 of his 20 first half points. The Hawks went into the locker room at half time with 60 points, which is a pretty good offensive output. The only problem was that they had allowed 77.