The Atlanta Hawks have secured two of the most impressive and surprising victories of the young NBA season.
Currently sitting in the ninth spot in the Eastern Conference standings, Atlanta has defeated the top two teams in the league on the road.
Without their star point guard Trae Young on November 12, the Hawks pulled off a stunning 117-116 victory against the defending champion Boston Celtics. Then on Tuesday, Atlanta overcame a 19-point deficit to hand the Cleveland Cavaliers their first home loss of the season, prevailing 135-124.
The Hawks will look to continue their strong performance when they host the Cavaliers in NBA Cup play on Friday. Atlanta holds a 2-1 record in East Group C action, while Cleveland has split its two pool play games.
On Wednesday night, the Cavaliers appeared poised to extend their perfect home record to 11-0, racing to a 30-11 first-quarter lead. However, the Hawks responded with a 24-5 run to close out the opening quarter, making a statement of their own.
Atlanta outscored Cleveland by 14 points in the second half, fueled by Young’s remarkable 20 points and 22 assists—the most in the NBA this season, just one shy of Mookie Blaylock’s franchise record of 23.
Young leads the NBA in assists per game with an average of 12.5. De’Andre Hunter (26 points) and Jalen Johnson (22 points) also contributed significantly to the Hawks’ scoring.
Young is Atlanta’s top scorer with an average of 21.8 points per game, followed by Johnson with 20.1 points and Hunter with 17.6 points per game.
First-year head coach Kenny Atkinson has had an outstanding start in Cleveland, winning 17 of his first 19 games.
Donovan Mitchell’s 30 points led the Cavaliers, who struggled from beyond the arc, making just 15 of their 48 three-point attempts (31.3 percent), compared to Atlanta’s impressive 47.6 percent (20-for-42) from long range.
Mitchell leads Cleveland with an average of 24.7 points per game, with Darius Garland adding 20.2 points per game.
