Atlanta Hawks: 5 Takeaways After Gutsy Win vs. Cavaliers

After a thrilling Atlanta Hawks victory at home, let’s explore some takeaways to last night’s game vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers.

For some reason, the Atlanta Hawks are suddenly a competitive team that is putting up a fight seemingly every night. Even with Taurean Prince out, the team is 6-5 in his absence (much more on that down the line), and if they hadn’t lost to a sterling Indiana Pacers squad, they would’ve put together a six-game winning streak.

So what’s going on with these Hawks? Well the rookies – namely Trae Young and Kevin Huerter – seem to be playing more confidently and more within their games on a night-to-night basis. Young is pulling up from way downtown far less and Huerter is driving to the rim with more authority on the back of his solid, good size and impressive footspeed.

In the game against the Cavs, the good play of the Atlanta Hawks young guns continued, and the team was able to gut out a victory on the back of some clutch free throws and steady play of Young and John Collins.

Though the Hawks shot rather poorly from beyond the three-point line (10 of 37, 27%), the Cavs produced a far worse percentage from downtown (5 of 23, 21.7%). While it’s true that Collin Sexton is something of a midrange specialist in his rookie season, that’s no excuse for such a poor shooting night.

Let’s explore the takeaways from this game, which focus on the best performers for the Atlanta Hawks. But first, the bad news…