1 stud and 1 dud for Cavs in disheartening loss to Hawks on Thursday

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J.B. Bickerstaff, Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo by Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports) /

At this juncture, it’s becoming more and more difficult for the Cleveland Cavaliers to string together victories. The Cavaliers did find a way to win on Monday versus the Orlando Magic, and over the week of March 14-20, they did have a 3-1 week, and things did appear to moving back in the right direction then.

Unfortunately for the Wine and Gold and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, with how injuries have really depleted them, the past week-and-a-half of games have not been fruitful, and Cleveland has lost five of its last six in that span. The Cavs did pretty well offensively on Wednesday in the front end of a back-to-back versus the Dallas Mavericks, but their defense was picked apart by Luka Doncic, and Dallas shot 38.1 percent from three-point range. The third quarter really did the Cavaliers in in that one.

Looking past that contest, in what was the second leg of a back-to-back for both teams and was a make-up game from earlier this season, the Cavaliers just could not stay within striking distance nearly enough to have a chance on Thursday night at the Atlanta Hawks.

It’s just been tough for Cleveland defensively, particularly since the loss of Jarrett Allen early last month because of a fractured finger, and this was the second straight game Evan Mobley has been out due to an ankle sprain.

The Cavaliers just couldn’t contain Atlanta’s penetration nearly enough when they needed to, and similarly to Doncic, with the Cavs not being nearly what they can be when healthier, Trae Young had his way a bunch with spotty rim protection.

There were not many positives from this one, what was a 131-107 loss, but we can find at least one, always. It’s still just difficult for the team right now to put together four quality quarters and have them string together runs.

With that, we’ll touch on who was the Cavs’ top performer, and examine what went wrong on Thursday night in our latest stud/dud from this blowout L to Atlanta.

Beginning with the Cavs stud, we’ll touch on Cedi Osman‘s night.