The Atlanta Hawks are September 11, however three of these wins are in opposition to the 2 greatest groups within the Japanese Convention.
The Hawks defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, 117-101, of their NBA Cup recreation Friday night time. Cleveland misplaced its third recreation of the season, with two of these losses coming in consecutive video games to the Hawks.
Atlanta pulled away with a 39-point third quarter the place Trae Younger delivered 5 of his 11 assists and 7 totally different Hawks gamers scored. Younger is on a tear as a distributor, averaging 15.3 assists in his final six video games. He’s main the NBA with 12.4 dimes per recreation.
That could be how the Hawks are defeating the stout Cavaliers protection. For the final two video games, Atlanta has 72 assists to Cleveland’s 52. Once they knocked off the Boston Celtics in an NBA Cup recreation on Nov. 12, the Hawks additionally had a giant help benefit, 35-28.
Additionally they acquired three steals from the NBA’s prime thief, Dyson Daniels. He’s averaging 3.1 swipes per recreation and had six when the Hawks upset the Celtics.
A part of Atlanta’s excellence in opposition to prime groups is that they’ve gotten more healthy this month. And so they’re additionally getting contributions from No. 1 decide Zaccharie Risacher, who has totaled 28 factors on 10-for-18 taking pictures versus the Cavaliers this week.
However now Atlanta is in seventh place within the East, and it is within the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup. Despite the fact that the Hawks are September 11, they’re trying like a group nobody needs to play.