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

Cavs dud: Third quarter

Admittedly, this Cavs team just looks gassed right now, and not having their All-Star center in Jarrett Allen, and being without their Rookie of the Year frontrunner in Evan Mobley, regarding defense, doesn’t help. The same goes for not having even Dean Wade, involving perimeter defense in that realm, and Wade is a sound team defender, too.

So, to get that out there, not having Allen’s presence and defensive IQ against a very hot in Atlanta, along with Mobley once again, is not going to generally bode well.

Generally speaking, the Cavaliers had their share of issues here on defense, and in the third quarter, especially, Cleveland’s fate in this one was sealed. The Hawks began the third with a 13-point advantage, and they quickly built on that.

Atlanta was of course led by Young again overall in this game, as he had 30 points on 9-of-17 shooting, to go with nine assists in 30 minutes, and Kevin Huerter had 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting. And honestly, Atlanta’s energy in that third just put this one away, as while the Cavs were hanging around in the first half, the Hawks ran out ahead and at one point, were leading by 26 points then early into it.

On the offensive end, too, the Cavs, who were outscored 34-22 by the Hawks in the third, couldn’t seem to generate, or from there, hit looks in key times to get back in it when they needed to, and this one was essentially over from there.

In that third, Darius Garland was just 1-of-8 from the field, but I’m not going to crush him for then and his 7-of-21 night, given his workload and the Cavs’ set of circumstances at the moment. Mostly aside from Thursday night, Garland has more than done his part. Now, there were some off looks from him, and the team going just 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) in the third was basically the end in this one, really.

Objectively, however, this last Cavaliers loss at the Hawks was a disheartening one, given how the Cavs just seem to be running out of gas at this point, and even before the Mobley injury, had still had their share of issues. It also is anything but easy for the Cavs, at this point in the season, to be amid a five-game-in-seven-night stretch this week, though, and I get that.

The Wine and Gold will have a chance to help themselves, involving play-in home court advantage, perhaps, with a potential win at the New York Knicks on Saturday on the road, in what’s the first leg of another back-to-back. Cleveland hosts the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.