It was the Atlanta Hawks who manoeuvred a late comeback against the Cleveland Cavaliers to seal their playoff spot with a 107-101 win. With the win, the Hawks secured the eighth overall seed in the Eastern Conference and a first-round matchup with the top-seeded Miami Heat.
Trae Young led the way for the Hawks with 38 points and nine assists, while Bogdan Bogdanović added 19 points off of the bench for Atlanta. Lauri Markkanen paced the Cavaliers with 26 points and eight rebounds, and Darius Garland had 21 points and nine assists, however it wasn’t enough to get them through.
Here’s a look at three takeaways from Atlanta Hawks win:
1. Ice Trae Young went cold, but caught fire late
Trae Young got off to a slow start, as he had just six total points in the first half. Given his subpar display until that point, it wasn’t surprising the Hawks were down by 10 at the half. However, in the second half, Young exploded for 32 points, and his production was a huge part of the reason that the Hawks were able to storm back and pull out a win. In the second half. Young scored or assisted on 43 of Atlanta’s 56 points. That’s more than the Cavs scored in the whole half (40).
The Hawks can look like a completely different team depending on how Young is playing. In the first half, they looked pretty passive on the offensive end, but in the second half, they looked like a well-oiled machine with Young drilling down shots,while also generating opportunities for his teammates. In addition to scoring a game-high 38, Young also dished nine assists — five of them in the second half. Cleveland had no answers for him on the defensive end down the stretch, and that proved to be the difference in the game.
“I felt like I was letting my team down in the first half.”
Trae Young scored 32 points in the second half to send the Hawks to the playoffs ? pic.twitter.com/ybFpsjJRfs
— ESPN (@espn) April 16, 2022
2. No Capela, no problem
It didn’t look great for the Hawks at halftime. They were down by double-figures, and it was announced that they would be without their starting center Clint Capela for the rest of the game due to a hyperextended knee.
Capela has been very valuable to Atlanta this season, they fared fine without him in the second half. The Hawks downsized in his absence, as they opted to go to Onyeka Okongwu in Capela’s place. This move opened up the floor for Atlanta a bit and gave Young a little more space to work with.
3. Plenty of reason for optimism for Cleveland moving forward
The Cavaliers’ season has come to an end, but there’s still plenty of reason for optimism in Cleveland. The Cavs secured their first winning season since LeBron James left in 2018, which is an accomplishment in itself. It’s possible that their record would have been even better if they weren’t hit with some injury issues to key contributors like Jarrett Allen, Ricky Rubio and Collin Sexton.
Darius Garland blossomed into an All-Star this season, and rookie big man Evan Mobley looked like a future All-Star himself. In the meantime, he’s likely to win the Rookie of the Year Award. With those two, the Cavs have a formidable young duo to build around moving forward. While it ultimately ended in disappointment, this season was still a major step in the right direction for the Cavs.
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