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Cleveland Cavaliers Preseason Game 1: What we Learned against the Hawks

By Jackson Flickinger

CLEVELAND, OH - OCTOBER 4: Kevin Love
CLEVELAND, OH - OCTOBER 4: Kevin Love /
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CLEVELAND, OH – OCTOBER 2: Fans smile at the Cleveland Cavaliers open practice on October 2, 2017 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH – OCTOBER 2: Fans smile at the Cleveland Cavaliers open practice on October 2, 2017 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images) /

The new look Cleveland Cavaliers hosted the Atlanta Hawks for their preseason game of the new campaign.

The Cleveland Cavaliers started off hot thanks to a great run by their starters, but Atlanta came away with a 109-93 win in the end.

LeBron James sat out this game recovering from his ankle injury. Cleveland started the game with Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, J.R. Smith, Jae Crowder, and Kevin Love. The starters played 14 minutes in the first half and looked impressive. They took it to the Hawks early and had a 14 point halfway through the first quarter. They left the game with a 7 point lead before Atlanta took a lead over the reserves.

Love led the starters in scoring with 12 points with 3 of 6 shooting from deep. Rose and Wade both looked good in their Cavalier debuts with 7 points apiece. Jae Crowder also poured in 8 points of his own.

It’s never wise to draw conclusions after one preseason game. Players are still getting their legs under them and adjusting to a new system. With that said, here are a couple things that stood out from the Cavs’ first action of the new year.

  • The Cavs actually played with pace. The starters played aggressively with an uptempo offense while they were in the game. Coach Lue has been preaching playing with pace since he took over at head coach, but that hasn’t really happened. Cleveland ranked 16th in pace last season. However, with their new personnel, there’s reason to believe that can change. The ball was moving around the court and wasn’t being dominated by one person. As a result, Wade finished with 4 assists and Love, Smith, and Rose each had 3. It was great to see the ball moving the way it was, we’ll see if that continues when LeBron comes back from his injury.