Live Thread: Hawks @ Cavs

The Atlanta Hawks face the Cavs tonight at 7:30. This game will be on FSO. The Cavs are dealing with some injury issues. Timofey Mozgov and Mo Williams are both unavailable for the the game, along with Kyrie Irving. This bumps Matthew Dellavedova and Tristan Thompson into the starting lineup tonight.

The Hawks are also confronting some injuries. Jeff Teague looks to be a game time decision.

Jeff Teague (ankle) won’t start, but he’ll warm up and Budenholzer is hopeful he can play tonight

— Jason Lloyd (@JasonLloydABJ) November 21, 2015

Kent Bazemore is also out this game. The Hawks starting lineup looks to be Dennis Schroeder, Kyle Korver, Thabo Sefolosha, Paul Millsap, and Al Horford. 

The Hawks were the Eastern Conference darlings last year getting the number one seed for the playoffs, but their lack of a super star to match up with LeBron James in the Eastern Conference Finals was their undoing, as were minor injuries. They seem to be confident in the teams’ current structure though. They stood strong during the offsesason and tried to keep the team together. DeMarre Carroll was the only guy who left, and they added Tiago Splitter.

Atlanta is second in the league for assists, dishing out 26.1 per game. The Cavs currently sit at fifth in that category getting 24.2 a night.

Paul Millsap is their leading scorer getting 18.1 points a night. He’s also their leading rebounder averaging 9.2 boards a game.

Things to Watch

-Last season, DeMarre Carroll was the Hawks’ stopper. He typically covered whoever the opponents’ best player was on the wing. He was backed up by Thabo Sefolosha, although Sefolosha missed much of last season with injuries. Now, Thabo is the only wing stopper, and that’s just about all he can do on the court. He will be tasked with guarding LeBron. Paul Millsap will also spend some time on the King. If those two slow LeBron, will the King settle for jumpers, or will he move off the ball to get some easy looks? LeBron should also look to get Millsap and Sefolosha into foul trouble early, because outside of those two the Hawks have no one who can stand up to him.

-Al Horford and Paul Millsap are high functioning offensive players in the post. Kevin Love has had his troubles dealing with post behemoths this season, so it will be interesting to see how David Blatt decides to cover those two bigs. With Timofey Mozgov out of the rotation, the Cavs are going to have to lean on Andy early if TT or Love gets into foul trouble.

-The Hawks pass the ball a ton. The Cavs will need to stay focused, as Kyle Korver is going to be on the move looking for the 3-ball all night. Millsap can step out and hit some 3s too. Schroder is hitting just 33% from deep, but he’s taking nearly four of them a game. This team is hitting 9.1 3-pointers a night.

-With how much the Hawks pass, the Cavs might try and play the passing lanes more. They need to be responsible if they do this because the Hawks can make them pay. They find the open man more often than not.

-If Paul Millsap gets going, the Cavs need to place TT on him. TT shut him down during the playoffs last year. See the headline picture if you’re having trouble remembering what TT did to poor Millsap.

Prediction

The Cavs should be able to pull this game out if they remain focused. While the game against the Bucks was about being physical, this game is going to be about execution. The Cavs need to take care of the ball, and remember that the Hawks are looking to create an open shot. They don’t need to bite on every pick and roll. I’m picking the Cavs, 112-92.