Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 most intriguing matchups of 2019-20 season

#2: All three games vs. the Atlanta Hawks

All three games against the Atlanta Hawks caught my eye, really, when glancing at the Cavs’ schedule.

The first meeting between these two teams with promising young cores is on Dec. 23 in Cleveland, and that’d make for a nice gift in a festive time of year for many. The second meeting is Feb. 12, 2020, and is the last game before the All-Star break.

Could that be a similar triple-overtime one as it was in the Cavs’ last game before the 2019 All-Star festivities against the Brooklyn Nets with Atlanta? I could see something along those lines (maybe not triple-overtime, though), and this matchup being the last game of the season on the road on April 15 is a cool likely ending to 2019-20, too.

Anyway, the Hawks are going to be one of the most-watched teams when it comes to NBA league pass this season, I would imagine. Their young core of Trae Young, who was 2018-19 First-Team All-Rookie, Kevin Huerter (Second-Team All-Rookie), John Collins, De’Andre Hunter and DeAndre’ Bembry is one that will be running every chance they get, and developmental big Bruno Fernando might be a piece to look out for in coming years as well.

Of course, the first thing that will likely always come to mind in these matchups is the Sexton-Young element, and likely on both ends of the floor to a large degree, and one could throw in Vince Carter‘s last season, too.

Much like Sexton, Young’s play really took off post-All-Star break in his rookie year, and the Hawks benefitted from that; in that 23-game sample size, Young averaged 24.7 points per game on 57.6% true shooting, to go with 9.2 assists per contest (per NBA.com).

Huerter and Windler should be another matchup to watch, as Windler shot 40.6% from three-point range in four seasons at Belmont, and a similar knockdown shooter in both catch-and-shoot plays and via pull-ups is Huerter, who shot 38.5% from deep in his rookie season with Atlanta and had a respectable 9.7 points and 2.9 assists in 27.3 minutes per game (per NBA.com), and looks to have all kinds of potential for the Hawks as a 2/occasional 3.

In these matchups, I could see Love feasting against Collins and/or Alex Len, but Atlanta will likely be able to do the same against Love, who will likely get targeted often in pick-and-roll and in secondary transition.

Osman and Porter should have their share of opportunities to get out and run themselves, too, though, which should bode well for Cleveland.

I would think all three games between these two squads are really close, as Garland will have his opportunities to take advantage of Young (one of the league’s worst defenders last year) on him, and could favorable switch-outs.

I’ll say Atlanta takes two out of three in tight games, but these are matchups you won’t want to miss as a fan of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Sexton-Young noise gets louder and louder.