CLEVELAND – The young Cleveland Cavaliers, many of them playing the biggest game yet of their NBA careers, took their lumps Tuesday night in Brooklyn and missed their first chance of making the playoffs.
Fortunately for the Cavs and their fans, they’ve got another shot.
Trouble is, Trae Young does, too.
Atlanta’s high-scoring All-Star point guard will be the Cavs’ defensive focal point Friday night, when they host the Hawks in a win or start vacation game. The winner secures the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 seed and advances to play the top-seeded Miami Heat (53-29) in the first round of the playoffs.
Young averaged 28.4 points per game during the regular season, but against the Cavs the rate was 32.5 points with a high of 41 in those four games. Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff didn’t waste a breath in bringing him up when asked about the challenges the Hawks present offensively.
“Obviously, it starts with Trae Young,” he said. “What he does impacts everybody else, and his ability to, one, make all the shots from all over the floor, two, to make all the plays with the ball in his hand, the passes and then that pick-and-roll game that they run.”
Young started slowly but scored 24 points in Atlanta’s 132-103 rout of the Charlotte Hornets in a play-in game Wednesday night. The Hawks finished ninth in the Eastern standings and the Hornets were 10th, and both went into the matchup in Atlanta knowing the winner would have to next beat Cleveland to extend its season.
The Cavs watched the game live and scouted together.
“They played well and they moved the ball well as a team,” Cavs guard Rajon Rondo said of the Hawks, who went 43-39 in the regular season to finish a game behind Cleveland in the standings. “Trae accepted the double teams that Charlotte threw at him at the start of the game. He got off the ball extremely well, he shared the ball with his teammates and they made plays for each other.”
The Cavs didn’t handle Brooklyn’s two-headed monster of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving monster early in Tuesday night’s 115-108 loss to the Nets, who now face the second-seeded Boston Celtics after securing the No. 7 seed – the same spot they occupied in the final standings after finishing the regular season with the same record as Cleveland, 44-38, but taking three of four meetings with the Cavs.
For most of Cleveland’s players, the play-in game was their first taste of playoff-like intensity and physicality. The Nets led by 20 after the first quarter, and although the Cavs fought back and were within six late, the initial onslaught was too much to overcome.
Bickerstaff believes his team will grow from the experience.
“We’ve been tested, and I feel like our guys have done a really good job of responding,” he said. “And when they’ve been in a certain situation, they don’t make the same mistake twice. They come out and they learn from it and they improve on in the next time out.”
AP photo by Tony Dejak / The Cleveland Cavaliers’ Jarrett Allen shoots over Atlanta Hawks forward Clint Capela during an October game in Cleveland.Atlanta won three of the four against the Cavs, including a 131-107 victory in the most recent matchup on March 31. But the Cavs were short-handed in every game and could get back All-Star center Jarrett Allen, who has been sidelined since March 6 with a broken finger. The team officially listed Allen as questionable on the injury report, a positive step after he missed the past 19 games.
Allen in the middle of Cleveland’s defense would be another obstacle for Young, who is not only dangerous as a shooter but in finding Clint Capela and Atlanta’s other big men on lobs at the rim.
Cleveland’s advantage in the post – especially if Allen is available – puts a big responsibility on the 6-foot-10, 256-pound Capela. Outside of him, the Hawks don’t really have anyone who can match up with Cleveland’s front line, which can include three 7-footers at once.
“They pose a challenge because of their size,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “They do a good job of taking advantage of their size with their ability to pound you in the paint. They’ve got a of lot of length.”
Capela had a big game against Charlotte with 15 points and 17 rebounds, but the Hornets went with a small lineup most of the game. The Cavs won’t, but the Hawks are confident in their man in the middle.
“He was everywhere,” Atlanta forward Danilo Gallinari said. “We know he can do that every single night. He’s got our back and can dominate the paint.”
Another good sign for the Hawks was the 22-point performance by forward De’Andre Hunter, who scored 16 during a third-quarter barrage that turned the game into a blowout.
The No. 4 overall pick in the 2019 draft, Hunter has battled health challenges and struggled to develop into a consistent performer. The Hawks hope his performance was a sign he’s ready to step up in the postseason.
“He was playing aggressive,” Young said. “That’s what we need from Dre. He was making plays, getting to the basket, and the way he was guarding got Miles (Bridges) frustrated. It was a great all-around game for Dre.”
While Cleveland’s roster is heavily tilted toward youth, Rondo’s 134 games of postseason experience gives the Cavs someone who has seen it all this time of year. He’s been a sounding board for teammates and coaches, and Bickerstaff called him a basketball “savant” before Rondo got nine assists in 26 productive minutes against the Nets.
A two-time NBA champion, the 36-year-old Rondo struggled to describe his postseason metamorphosis.
“I can’t really put it into words,” he said. “I get a little more time to rest my body. I usually play a lot more minutes. The coaches usually allow me to do what I do best – manipulate the game and try to do what’s best for the team and stay on the same page with my teammates, along with getting W’s.”