Atlanta Hawks down Varejao-less Cleveland Cavaliers 102-94: NBA Recap
Atlanta Hawks point guard Jeff Teague scored a career-high 27 points to help his team beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 102-94 here at the Quicken Loans Arena on Friday night.
"As Teague goes -- when he plays aggressive like this -- it sets the tone for this basketball team. He's always been confident, but point guard is probably the hardest position to grasp in the NBA. He's going to be just fine."
Hawks power forward Josh Smith on Teague’s big night.
Atlanta coach Larry Drew sat down with Teague 3 games ago and had told him to be aggressive and put more energy into his game. He is averaging 18.3 points and 9.0 assists since that heart-to-heart talk.
"I'd like to take credit for it, but I can't," Drew said. "He just came out and played. When he plays with that energy, he makes us a much better team."
Lou Williams had 16 points and 5 rebounds while Al Horford posted a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks, who shot 54.2 percent from behind the arc compared to 38.1 percent by the Cavaliers.
The Cavs were missing the league leader in boards in Andersen Varejao, who missed his 5th straight game and will not play the next game against the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday. Kyrie Irving matched Teague point for point
and finished off with 28 points and 6 rebounds.
Teague put the Hawks up by 95-94 with 2:33 on the regulation. The Cavaliers wasted a few baskets in the following passage which resulted in 5 points for Atlanta. Irving, who made some amazing plays throughout the game, missed one
from behind the arc leading to a Horford jumper that pushed the Hawks up to 97-94.
Later in the fourth quarter, Zaza Pachulia secured the rebound and handed the ball in the safe hands of Kyle Korver, who connected from downtown to put the Hawks up 100-94 with 1:21 on the clock and it pretty much sealed the deal.
Cavaliers could not add a single point in the last 2:53 minutes of the game and their coach Byron Scott was not impressed
"I wasn't really happy with the execution in the last two or three minutes, that’s an understatement -- and I let them know."
Anthony Tolliver made full use of his limited minutes on the court. He went 5 of 7 from the field including 2 of 3 from the three point land to contribute valuable 13 points off the bench. Hawks reserves outshone the Cavs bench
on the night - they posted 27 points compared to 18 points . Hawks' bench also outrebounded the Cleveland bench 14-7.
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