The Atlanta Hawks need a signature ‘Red Velvet’ game from Kevin Huerter

There would be no better time for a classic performance from Atlanta Hawks guard Kevin Huerter than Friday’s Play-In Tournament tilt against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Hawks are coming off of thrashing the visiting Charlotte Hornets while the Cavs took a loss on the road to the Brooklyn Nets.

Atlanta will switch roles with Cleveland in this one as the visitor, which is significant given the Hawks 16-25 record when away from State Farm Arena. At the same time, the Cavs are 25-16 at home in an interesting twist.

Sixth-man Bogdan Bogdanovic is a game-time decision, per The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner, with a “left ankle sprain” potentially making Huerter’s contributions that much more significant.

Huerter, affectionately known as “Red Velvet”, is due for a big night.

Kevin Huerter could be the difference maker for the Atlanta Hawks versus the Cavs

The Hawks went 3-1 against the Cavs in the regular season, splitting their two matchups in Cleveland. However, that loss came on October 23 in the second game of the season. Huerter, along with Bogdanovic struggled from the floor in that game. A lot has changed since then, most notably the types of stretches both teams have had recently.

Atlanta grades out as one of the NBA’s better teams while the Cavs have slumped as this graphic from ESPN’s Kirk Goldsberry illustrates.

The Hawks have NBA’s seventh-best net rating over the last 15 games. Conversely, the Cavs have the 11th worst. That is in stark contrast to where these two teams were in mid-January when the Cavs had the fourth-best net rating in the league and the Hawks had the 10th-worst.

In that span, Huerter has gone from averaging 11.2 points on 45.6% shooting to 12.8 points on 45.2% shooting overall.

The Hawks record has also flipped from 14-21 with Huerter in the lineup through January 15 to 26-13 since.

Huerter biggest difference has been in fewer, more efficient threes. His long-distance attempts have gone from 9.7 per game to 6.2, but his efficiency has risen significantly from 34.9% up until January 15 to 41.7% from January 16 through the end of the regular season.

In the 15-game window that Goldsberry highlights, Huerter’s deep-ball efficiency took a slight dip to 40.2%. But he once again has increased his overall scoring output, putting up 13.3 points per contest. That would be a career-high for the player also known as “K’Von” when he gets into his bag offensively.

That brings us to the fact that, despite this solid stretch of games for the fourth-year wing out of the University of Maryland, it has just been that and we know Huerter is capable of going off.

Huerter scored at least 20 points 10 times this season, the most in any single season of his career, with five of them coming within a six-game stretch in the final 10 games of the year. The last time was on April 5 in a loss to the Toronto Raptors.

Still, the closest he came to showing off all he can do in that stretch was a 20-point, six-board outing in a win over the Golden State Warriors on March 25. To find his last truly standout performance you have to go back to January 5 when he had 25 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and one steal in a win over the Sacramento Kings.

And we all remember “Game 7 Kevin” going off for 27 points – on just 2-of-4 triples – to go with seven rebounds, three assists, and a steal to end the Philadelphia 76ers postseason last year.

Atlanta is second on the season shooting the longball at 37.4% while Cleveland ranks 15th at 35.5%.

However, over the last 15 games, both teams are shooting an identical 38.1% from beyond the arc.

Defensively, Cleveland has been better defending the three, with opponents shooting just 35.3% from outside against them this season compared to 36.4% against Atlanta. But, in that 15-game window,  Hawks opponents are shooting 36.3% compared to Cavs opponents shooting 37.6% against them.

In their first Play-In battles, the Nets shot 32.1% from three while the Hornets hit 31.7% of their deep looks against the Hawks and Cavs, respectively.

Huerter averaged 13.3 points on 63.2% true shooting against Cleveland this season with 2.3 assists and 1.7 rebounds per game. He shot 53.3% from downtown against them, the fifth-highest mark he shot against any team this season.

He had 23 points with two rebounds, two assists, and two steal in the last meeting between these teams, a 131-107 victory at home on March 31. And he started off hot versus Charlotte with nine points in the first quarter. He finished with just 13 points total after taking four shots in the first 12 minutes, but just five more the rest of the game as the Hawks led big through three.

That is something the Hawks cannot afford in this one. Huerter needs to come out firing and keep it that way to help them advance to face the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs.