NBA: Hawks top Cavs for second win in as many nights

Saddiq Bey and Bogdan Bogdanovic each scored 23 points, helping lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 112-101 victory over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.

Dejounte Murray added 18 and De’Andre Hunter scored 17 off the bench for the Hawks, who won their second game in as many nights. Bruno Fernando collected a team-high 10 rebounds off the bench.

Jarrett Allen led Cleveland with 18 points and 19 rebounds, followed by Isaac Okoro with 17 and Darius Garland’s 15. Georges Niang, Caris LeVert and Craig Porter Jr. each scored 13 for the Cavaliers, who have lost two of their last three games.

After leading by 15 the half, Atlanta opened the third period with a 9-3 run — capped with Murray’s floater — to take a 73-52 lead with 9:17 left in the third quarter.

From there, however, the rest of the quarter was all Cleveland.

Allen’s dunk cut the Hawks’ lead to 78-69 at the 5:49 mark, and a little more than a minute later, LeVert hit a 3-pointer that trimmed the deficit to four points.

After Bogdanovic’s triple gave the Hawks an 87-83 lead, Cleveland finished the third on a 6-0 run, taking an 89-87 lead into the fourth.

In the final quarter, Porter hit a floater to knot the score at 93 with 9:46 remaining before Atlanta went on a 7-0 scoring run, stamped with Bey’s triple at the 5:05 mark.

Allen and Niang each scored inside to trim the Atlanta lead to 100-97 with 4:09 left.

With 2:29 remaining, Okoro’s coast-to-coast dunk cut Cleveland’s deficit to four, but the Hawks then finished the game on a 7-0 run, including consecutive buckets from Bey to cement the 11-point win.

In the first half, Cleveland took a 28-25 lead on Porter’s jumper before triples from Hunter and Johnson gave the Hawks a 31-28 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

After Dean Wade’s free throw cut the Cavaliers’ deficit to 37-33, Atlanta responded with a 10-0 scoring run, eight of which came from Hunter.

A pair of Garland free throws stopped the bleeding for Cleveland before the Hawks answered with six straight points, capped with Murray’s three-point play which gave Atlanta a 53-35 lead with 4:54 left in the first half.

Garland’s 3-pointer got Atlanta’s lead down to 13 points with 1:33 left before the half, but Murray then hit two free throws to give the Hawks a 64-49 halftime lead.

–Field Level Media/Reuters