Atlanta Hawks
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Turnovers doom Hawks in loss to Cavaliers
Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/anal...son-nba-analysis-breakdown-final-quotes-video
The Atlanta Hawks capped off their first road trip of the 2025-26 season with a 117-109 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night.
This was a sloppy outing for the Hawks, playing without Trae Young for the second straight game, and the first time since it was announced that the All-Star point guard would be sidelined for at least the next four weeks with an MCL sprain. Atlanta missed 10 free throws (25-for-35), conceded five more second-chance points (13 to 8), turned the ball over 23 times*, and shot just 6-for-23 (26.1%) from the perimeter, resulting in a season low, 101.9 offensive rating.
*The sixth-most turnovers committed in a game by an NBA team this season
Meanwhile, Cleveland generated 12 more ‘true shot attempts’, scored 33 points off Atlanta’s turnovers* and shot 20-for-57 (35%) from three-point range. Their 57 three-point attempts were tied for the most threes taken in a game this season.
*The second-most points off turnovers scored in a game by an NBA team this season
Atlanta had no answers for Donovan Mitchell, who was simply outstanding for the short-handed Cavaliers (down three starters in Darius Garland, Max Strus and Jarrett Allen). Mitchell scored 37 points on 12-for-21 shooting (8-for-15 from three) to lead all scorers and also dished out five assists. Former Hawk De’Andre Hunter chipped in with 19 points and seven rebounds in his first appearance against the team that drafted him fourth overall (by trade) back in 2019.
For the Hawks, five players finished in double figures scoring-wise. Jalen Johnson tallied 23 points (10-for-16 shooting, 1-for-2 from three) to go along with 13 rebounds and five assists. Dyson Daniels finished with 18 points (8-for-12, 0-for-1 from three) and added four steals.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker had another rough shooting night, going just 3-for-11 from the field (0-for-4 from three), however he shot 11-for-12 from the free throw stripe and grinded his way to 16 points. Kristaps Porzingis posted a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, though he shot 0-for-4 from three-point range – the first game this season where he failed to hit a three. Luke Kennard had an efficient shooting night, scoring 15 points on 5-for-6 shooting (3-for-4 from three).
As referenced above however, turnovers were the primary reason Atlanta lost this game, and in that regard, nearly everyone in Atlanta’s rotation played a part in the mess. Alexander-Walker finished with a team-high five turnovers. Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu each finished with four. Kennard, Daniels, Porzingis and Zaccharie Risacher all tallied two apiece.
In the first quarter, similar to their last two games against Brooklyn and Indiana, the Hawks started out slowly. They turned the ball over on four out of their first seven possessions and, within three minutes, trailed 16-2.
To their credit, Atlanta didn’t let the bad start shake their confidence. They continued to push the pace and attack the paint, and with the help of their bench (and some fortuitous misses from Cleveland), clawed themselves back into the game with a 16-5 run of their own.
A cold finish to the quarter saw the Hawks trail 31-22 going into the second, though given that they turned the ball over eight times in the period (leading to 21 of Cleveland’s 31 points), they were rather fortunate to only be trailing by nine.
Atlanta took hold of the momentum in the second quarter. While Cleveland shot the ball really poorly (6-for-24 from the floor, 2-for-13 from three), the Hawks deserve credit for their stout defense in the halfcourt and for their ability to generate quality offense through attacking the paint.
Here, Kristaps Porzingis curls around the pindown from Vit Krejci then finishes through Tyrese Proctor for the bucket plus the foul.
After a transition bucket by Cleveland, Alexander-Walker races up the floor then slings a pass to the corner for a Kennard three-pointer.
Luke in the corner ties it uppic.twitter.com/4fDlTywfqq
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 3, 2025
A few possessions later, some nice player/ball movement in the halfcourt sets up a Jalen Johnson slam.
Ball movement leads to a Jalen Johnson Jampic.twitter.com/iERDz34JQ0
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 3, 2025
An 11-5 run before halftime gave the Hawks a 52-50 advantage at the break. In addition to the turnover discrepancy (Atlanta committed nine more turnovers than Cleveland in the first half), another big difference between the two sides in the first 24 minutes was in their offensive shot profile.
The Cavaliers took more than twice as many threes as the Hawks did in the first half, going 8-for-29 (27.6%) from distance while Atlanta went 4-for-12 (33.3%). Inside the arc, Atlanta shot 11-for-18 (61.1%) at the rim and 4-for-9 (44.4%) from the mid-range while Cleveland shot 6-for-9 (66.7%) at the rim and just 4-for-14 (28.6%) from the mid-range. Atlanta had made four more three throws (10-for-15 vs. 6-for-6 for Cleveland).
Neither side was able to separate themselves in the first six minutes of the second half, with Atlanta trailing 66-64 at the 5:45 mark of the third. A 10-1 Cavaliers run coaxed a strong response from the Hawks, and heading into the fourth, they trailed 76-74.
Luke with a nice attack and finish with the right handpic.twitter.com/GxvKCrnwSk
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 3, 2025
Cleveland extended their lead to begin the final period, but the Hawks didn’t give up the fight. A Risacher steal led to a Kennard triple with 9:21 remaining to cut the deficit to three.
Zacch swipes then finds Luke for a triplepic.twitter.com/8JUJUpGJA5
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 3, 2025
After a Cavaliers turnover, Dyson Daniels finds a lane and hits a tough floater while drawing a foul. Daniels completed the three point play, knotting the game at 84.
A few possessions later, with the score knotted at 86 with 8:00 to play, Risacher comes up with another steal, but he loses control of his dribble and gives the ball right back to Cleveland. Tyrese Proctor drew a shooting foul on the ensuing possession to put the Cavs back up by two – a brutal momentum swing (though Risacher does brilliantly to come up with the steal in the first place).
On Atlanta’s next possession, Okongwu gets whistled for being too physical fighting for positioning with Dean Wade. An unfortunate call in my opinion, but a turnover nonetheless. Lucky for the Hawks, the Cavs came up empty on their next possession.
On the following offensive possession for Atlanta, Okongwu chucks up a wild shot with 10 seconds on the shot clock. As you can see, Alexander-Walker’s cut forces him to adjust his drive, but still, this is a very difficult shot to take in a close game.
The Cavs grab the board, and waste no time getting up the floor. Lonzo Ball finds Proctor for the transition lay-in.
Jalen Johnson responds almost instantly for Atlanta, however their next defensive possession was a real gut punch for the Hawks.
Lonzo Ball misses the floater, but no one on Atlanta boxes out Craig Porter Jr., who keeps the ball in play for the Cavs. The ball gets batted out to Dean Wade, who finds Hunter for an open catch-and-shoot three from the top of the key and he finds the bottom of the net.
On Atlanta’s next possession, coming out of a timeout, Kennard gets sped up on a drive and throws the ball away, sparking a transition possession for the Cavs. Proctor finds the trailing Mitchell, who pump fakes Okongwu, takes a rhythm dribble, and cans the wide open three to put Cleveland up by eight.
With Atlanta needing to get back on track and gain some momentum, Alexander-Walker dribbles it off his foot and out of bounds.
Just a brutal stretch from the Hawks, allowing Cleveland to go on a 10-2 run in the span of a few minutes. The turnovers are particularly frustrating because the Hawks don’t even give themselves an opportunity to put points on the board.
It was the case on a few different occasions last night, but the Hawks really missed Trae Young during this string of possessions.
The Hawks still weren’t ready to quit though. Daniels strips Mitchell on the very next play and takes it to the house to keep Atlanta in it.
Then with 4:30 left to play and the Hawks down four, yet another turnover leads to an easy transition lay in for Cleveland.
After free throws from Alexander-Walker, Porzingis gets caught out of position on the Hawks next defensive possession. Lonzo hits the rolling Evan Mobley, who finds Jaylon Tyson in the corner for a wide open three.
While the Hawks played until the final whistle, this next bucket from Mitchell was when the game felt like it was out of reach for me. After a couple misses by Atlanta, Mitchell goes right at Luke Kennard for the and-one score, putting Cleveland up by 10 with 2:30 left to play.
Atlanta were outscored 39-33 in the final frame. They turned the ball over seven times (leading to eight Cavaliers points), and allowed Cleveland to score eight second-chance points off of their three offensive rebounds. Cleveland also hit seven threes in the fourth (7-for-13), while the Hawks managed just two three-point makes (2-for-5) – a significant difference in the two team’s shot profiles, as was the case all night.
After the game, Quin Snyder made sure not to pin the defeat on the team’s performance over the final 12 minutes.
Snyder was complimentary of his team’s effort, saying he was particularly impressed with the way that they defended in the halfcourt, but would like to see them do a better job of turning those defensive stops into points on the other end.
Still, while Snyder may have felt that the Hawks left points on the table in transition, the numbers show that last night, the Hawks mainly struggled to score on possessions that occurred after a Cleveland make and on possessions that began with a steal.
Per pbpstats, Atlanta scored 27 points on 28 possessions (0.96 points per possession) that occurred after a Cavs basket. They scored just nine points on nine possessions (1.0 ppp) that began with a steal. In contrast, they scored 45 points on 36 possessions (1.25 ppp) that occurred after a Cleveland miss.
Per cleaningtheglass, so far this season, the Hawks rank third in the league in offensive efficiency on transition possessions that begin with steals, scoring 1.63 ppp. Meanwhile, they rank just 28th in offensive efficiency on transition possessions that begin with a rebound, scoring 1.02 ppp.
Atlanta certainly left points on the table when it comes to scoring off of steals, but on possessions that began with a Cleveland miss, they actually did alright.
Defensively, the Hawks really struggled to defend in transition, allowing 1.25 ppp off of their misses (28 possessions) and a whopping 2.08 ppp off of possessions that began with a Cleveland steal (12 possessions) relative to allowing just 0.84 ppp on possessions that occurred after a Hawks make (31 possessions).
After the four-game road trip, the Hawks will return home this week, and they’ll be back in action on Tuesday night, taking on the Orlando Magic. Let’s hope they can keep the turnovers under control on their home court.
Tip off for that one is at 8 PM EST.
Until next time!
Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/anal...son-nba-analysis-breakdown-final-quotes-video
