Atlanta Hawks: Cavaliers lengthy starting lineup proves too tall a task

At 1-1, the Atlanta Hawks are far from being in panic mode. The fact of the matter is their 101-95 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers will barely register as a blip on the radar in the grand scheme of things. Except for, possibly, when the two teams meet up again on Dec 19. Otherwise, this was a game where it was the mistakes by the Hawks and *ahem* extenuating circumstances.

The Hawks were whistled 23 times to 16 for the Cavs and, while you never want to blame them, the officiating in this one was less than stellar.

In the end, the disappointing loss is Atlanta’s to bear. The question is how a team that looked so impressive in their blowout win over a perennial playoff team like the Dallas Mavericks went on to look rather disjointed through much of the night offensively against the lowly Cavs.

Maybe more concerning, why was the lockdown defense not so just two nights later?

The Atlanta Hawks struggled to deal with a lengthy Cavs team on both ends of the floor

Atlanta gave up just 87 points to the Mavericks but allowed the Cavaliers to put up that 83 through three quarters and 101 points total; granted Cleveland was on their home court. They also managed just 95 points after dropping 113 in the opener. That’s a 31 point swing that just brings you back to the initial question and that is simply how?

The answer is length.

Cleveland is able to trot out one of the more unique lineups in the NBA with Laur Markkanen starting at small forward alongside rookie Evan Mobley at power forward and Jarrett Allen at center.

All of them stand at least 6-foot-11 and, at small forward, even Markkanen (who is notoriously porous on defense) has some defensive advantages with his length.

Trae Young led all scorers with 24 points (narrowly edging Cleveland point guard Ricky Rubio), adding seven assists and three steals to just one turnover. It was a solid line, sure. But he shot 36.4 percent from the floor and was 1-of-6 from long distance. He also had a couple of late turnovers that came at inopportune moments in the game as they were rallying.

Cam Reddish was the Hawks second-leading scorer with 19 points off of the bench as his hot start continued.

The two of them did much of the heavy lifting on offense with Clint Capela the only starter shooting above 40 percent from the floor.

The Hawks man in the middle had another double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds. John Collins hauled in 12 boards but only six points on 37.5 percent shooting. De’Andre Hunter had 12 points but shot 31.3 percent from the floor.

Bogdan Bogdanovic and Kevin Huerter — who struggled in the opener as well — combined for just nine points and shot 28.6 percent and 22.2 percent from the floor respectively.

Solomon Hill, Gorgui Dieng, and Delon Wright all shot 50 percent but totaled just 15 points

As a team, Atlanta shot 38.4 percent from the floor and a disappointing 29.4 percent from beyond the arc.

The Hawks are back at it on Monday to host the Detroit Pistons who are coming off of a blowout loss to the Chicago Bulls. They also lost two of the three times the two teams met last season, giving even more optimism of a Hawks bounceback.