CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cavaliers dream season came crashing to a bitter conclusion Friday night.
After leading by double figures for much of the first half, the Hawks rallied in the second half behind a sensational performance by Trae Young for a 107-101 win at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Here are our Top Takeaways
1. The Hawks had Young and the Cavs did not. “He made shots from the jump circle,” Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. Young scored 32 of his 38 points in the second half, including scoring 12 straight to end the third quarter for Atlanta and that was all she wrote. In the final 24 minutes Young scored or assisted on 43 of 56 second half points for the Hawks.
2. The play that sunk the Cavs came with just under 30 seconds remaining and the Cavs trailing 102-99. Lauri Marrkanen picked Danilo Gallinari’s pocket but immediately turned the ball over with a pass that Kevin Huerter grabbed before it could get up the floor forcing Evan Mobley to foul Young with 23.8 second on the clock. Young hit both free throws to make it a two-possession game. Game over.
3. The second play that swung the momentum in the second half Atlanta’s way came in the third quarter when Mobley was shoved by Huerter into Garland, who hit a 3 from the corner. Following a review, the 3 was disallowed. Instead of going up 70-59, it remained 67-59 Cavs and the Hawks went on a 21-12 run to take an 80-79 lead.
4. After getting blown out in the opening quarter Tuesday night in Brooklyn by 20, Friday night the Cavs came out swing, but they faded fast in the second half. After leading by as many as 14 and by 10 at halftime. Atlanta outscored them by 10 in the third quarter and six more in the fourth. “The ball wasn't popping and there was a lot of isolation and standing still,” Bickerstaff said.
5. Disappointment was a common word used by head coach Bickerstaff and players following the game as their once promising season has now ended without them in the playoffs. They fell from a game out of the No. 1 seed in mid-February at 14 games above .500 to out of the playoffs by finishing the season 9-17, including the two Play-In Tournament losses.
6. It’s hard not to think what could’ve been because of the volume of injuries. Allen’s broken left middle finger was the last straw apparently but there were opportunities missed as well, including Friday night. “We're headed in the right direction, for sure,” Bickerstaff said. “We accomplished a lot this year.”
7. Bickerstaff, Jarrett Allen, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley all spoke of their excitement for the future and the potential they have going forward but next year isn’t guaranteed. Darius Garland mentioned a few times how “nobody expected us to be here,” but next year everyone will.
8. Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse was rocking Friday night. From player pregame warmups to “Let’s Go Cavs” chants drowning out the introduction of the Hawks starting 5, the building was electric. Unfortunately the majority of the crowd headed for the exits before the final horn. The fans that stuck around for the end applauded the Cavs as they walked off the floor.
9. No offense to Garland, but Allen was the most popular Cav Friday night. The crowd erupted when he took the floor for pregame warmups and went nuts after Allen jumped and ran off the floor to the locker room to get ready to start. Allen had been sidelined since March 6 after breaking his left middle finger in a win over Toronto. Allen, who finished with 11 points, three rebounds, two assists and a block in 35:30, had it padded and wrapped.
10. Allen’s return was delayed by traffic, but the All-Star center arrived in plenty of time to start. Cleveland had gone 7-12 without Allen, who was averaging 16.3 points, 10.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 55 games this season before the injury, in their lineup.
11. The Cavs came out firing early by launching and hitting a barrage of 3s to open a double-digit lead in the first quarter. Markkanen hit three of them. Even Mobley opened the scoring with one from the corner. Garland and Caris LeVert also hit from deep as they made six of their first seven from beyond the arc, each time sending the sellout crowd into a deafening frenzy.
12. In the playoffs, big games from role players are vital and Friday night was the Lauri Markkanen game. He hit six of 12 from 3 and scored 26 points, but that turnover with 29.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter sealed the Cavs’ fate.
13. Bickerstaff mentioned Thursday losing in the paint would end their season and Friday night it did. Cleveland was out-rebounded by Atlanta 42-36 and outscored in the paint 44-38.
