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The game after the Cavs clinched a playoff spot for the first time in five years, the Cavs traveled to Atlanta to take on the Hawks. The Hawks are the eighth seed in the east. This is the third and final time of the season the Cavs would face off against the team that eliminated them last year in the play-in tournament.
This is also the first time Donovan Mitchell is facing off against his former head coach, Quin Snyder who is now the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, Mitchell and Snyder spent five seasons in Utah and made the playoffs all five seasons.
The Cavs for today’s game would be without Jarrett Allen and Issac Okoro along with missing bench players Danny Green and Raul Neto.
The game came down to the final shot with 3.7 seconds left in game the Cavs had a chance to win the game, but a half-court shot from Mitchell hit the back of the rim and the Cavs fell to the Hawks 120-118.
Despite missing the potential game-winner the Cavs’ shining star of the night was Mitchell. Mitchell scored 44 points tonight in the loss. This is the tenth time this season that Mitchell has scored over 40 points in a game.
Evan Mobley continued to show how he is one of the becoming a star in the NBA, scoring 20 points and having 15 rebounds, his rebounding, and shot-blocking was key for the Cavs tonight which kept the Cavs in the game without Allen.
Darius Garland scored 27 points tonight in the loss, unfortunately, the Cavs bench was short-handed and the bench scored a combined 14 points between the three bench players.
Dejounte Murray for the Hawks was their player of the game scoring 29 points and having 5 assists to go with it.
Hawks superstar Trae Young struggled to score tonight, not making his first field goal of the game until the second half, Young also missed one of his two late free throws with 3.7 seconds left that gave the Cavs a chance to hit a potential game-winning buzzer beater. Young did finish the game with 16 points.
The Hawks bench scored 44 points, which was a key spot in the game for the Cavs not being able to come away with the win tonight.
The Cavs’ next game is on Friday against the fifth-seeded New York Knicks, this is potentially a preview of the first round of the NBA playoffs if the seeding stays the same. It is unknown at this time if Okoro and Allen will be available for Friday’s game.
