Cavaliers defeat Hawks 121-118
The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Atlanta Hawks 121-118 at home in order to win their third consecutive game and ninth overall.
The game was tied at 94 as the 4th quarter began. Cleveland needed some help from their younger players if they were going to win. Luckily for the Cavaliers, they got just that. Darius Garland and Kevin Porter Jr. combined to score the first 17 points for the Cavaliers in the fourth quarter as they narrowly won their third straight game.
Kevin Porter Jr. scored 15 points off the bench, nine of which came in the fourth quarter. Porter had himself a game and made plenty of highlight worth plays.
Kevin Porter Jr. definitely took advantage of every opportunity he was given Monday. Porter performing like this is definitely a great sign moving forward.
Darius Garland scored 10 points in the fourth, eight came in that early stretch to being the final quarter. Garland finished with 21 points in the win.
Porter and Garland were not the only Cavs players to have a good game. Collin Sexton led the Cavaliers in scoring with 25 points on 12-20 from the field. What is noteworthy about Sexton’s performance was that he missed his only three-point shot and went 1-2 from the charity stripe. 19 field goal attempts came from two-point range.
Kevin Love also scored 20 points, going 7-16 from the field. Love did not have a ton of success from deep, only making three of 10 attempts from distance. Luckily Cleveland was carried by Porter and Garland to start the 4th, so they did not need to rely on Love to pull ahead of Atlanta.
Cleveland made a trade before the game
The Cavaliers agreed to a trade prior to the game. Sending Jordan Clarkson to Utah for Dante Exum and two second round draft picks. This will allow for the Cavaliers to use their younger players in more prominent roles. Meaning that players such as Darius Garland and Kevin Porter Jr. could be more integral to Cleveland’s strategy moving forward.
