Donovan Mitchell and Sam Merrill each scored 18 points to lead the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers to a 116-95 wire-to-wire win over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday.
Dean Wade added 17 points for Cleveland, which extended its winning streak to an NBA-leading seven. Jarrett Allen collected 14 points and 11 rebounds while Georges Niang also tallied 14 points. Max Strus scored 13 points, followed by Isaac Okoro’s 12.
Dejounte Murray led Atlanta with 24 points, followed by Jalen Johnson’s 20. Trae Young added 15 before exiting with an injury on an inadvertent elbow by Okoro in the third quarter. Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 14 points off the bench for Atlanta, which saw its three-game winning streak snapped.
Cleveland led by 14 at halftime and built its lead throughout the third. A Strus triple pushed the Cavaliers lead to 20 before a 7-2 Hawks spurt cut the deficit to 15 with 3:11 left in the quarter.
Cleveland finished the quarter on a 13-5 run, including a pair of Merrill 3-pointers.
After a brief Atlanta run cut the deficit to 16, Cleveland blew it back open with a 10-2 run, capped with a pair of Wade triples to extend the Cavs’ advantage to 114-90 with 3:16 left — emptying both benches.
In the first half, Cleveland jumped to an early 10-0 lead, and later matched its largest first-half advantage at the 2:43 mark, when an Allen dunk gave the Cavaliers a 56-36 lead.
Atlanta finished the first half on a 9-3 run, cutting the deficit to 59-45.
Three Cavaliers led the first-half scoring, as Mitchell, Okoro and Merrill each scored 10. Johnson led Atlanta with 12, followed by Murray’s 11.
After Okoro inadvertently elbowed Young in the third, the Atlanta star exited and didn’t return.
Cleveland improved to 3-0 this season against Atlanta, with the final meeting set for March 6 in Atlanta.
–Field Level Media
Comments