By the Numbers: Hawks Stun Cavs

Cavs drop 5 of last 6 games

LeBron James could only sigh as his team came up short against the Hawks. 

A few days ago, LeBron James ended the Cleveland Cavaliers' 4-game losing streak by scoring a franchise record-tying 57 points against the Washington Wizards. 

That performance also enabled the King to become the youngest NBA player to reach 29,0000 career points- a record that was previously held by Kobe Bryant. The Cavs thought that their win against the Wizards will be the start of better things for the team. 

Unfortunately, they were wrong.

Dennis Schroder scored on a pair of charities with 12 seconds left and right after Isaiah Taylor missed a pair of free throws, LeBron James grabbed the rebound but Channing Frye missed on a three-point attempt and Dwayne Wade missed another attempt as the Atlanta Hawks held on for the 117-115 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

This latest loss dropped the Cavs to 4-6 while the Hawks finally broke out of their 8-game losing streak and improved to 2-8 in the season.

So what doomed the Cavs in the first place? Below are the numbers:

Balance Scoring from the Hawks

Atlanta got contributions from 7 players who scored in double figures. Schroder led the way with 28 points while Tayshaun Prince and Luke Babbit scored 17 points apiece. Dewayne Dedmon had 15 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks while Ken Bazemore added 14 points 7 rebounds and 9 assists. Off the bench, the Hawks got 12 points and 13 rebounds from John Collins and, 14 points from Isaiah Taylor. 

On the other side, the Cavs' starters could only manage 51 points- highlighted by LeBron James' 26 points. The only thing that kept Cleveland in the game was the production of the bench which got  25 points from Dwayne Wade and 23 points from Kyle Korver. 

You see the irony? The Cavs have more star power and yet they lost to another mediocre team.

The Hawks Got More from Rainbow Country

While the Cavs were almost blacked out from the three-point line as evident by their 10 of 36 performance from beyond the arc- including a 0 of 3 shooting from the King himself, the Hawks made 11 of their 25 attempts from deep. Luke Babbit took 8 shots from outside and made half of those attempts. Tayshaun Prince added three more long bombs. 

The Cavs on the other hand? If not to Kyle Korver's 5 of 11 shooting from the three-point area, the Cavs would have been blown away. Among the Cavs' starters, only JR Smith managed to hit his targets from deep, hitting 2 of his 4 attempts from that area.  

Conclusion

With this latest setback, Cavs Coach Tyronn Lue might want to check his back because he wouldn't be coaching for long if the Cavs doesn't improve as soon as possible. And if the Cavs doesn't improve soon, it might only strengthen the possibilities of LeBron James leaving for elsewhere next season. 

For the Hawks, it's still early for their fans to quit because given the fact that they've already beaten a "super team", it shows that yes, they can beat any team. They only need to do what they did against the Cavs, consistently.