• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Hawks impressive again in win over Cavs

Mar 7, 2015 - 5:55 AM Atlanta, GA (SportsNetwork.com) - Once again, the Atlanta Hawks proved that their depth can overcome the Cleveland Cavaliers' star power.

Al Horford led six Atlanta players in double figures with 19 points as the Eastern Conference leaders handled the big-name Cavaliers by a 106-97 score at Philips Arena.

Paul Millsap and Jeff Teague each had 16 points in the Hawks' balanced attack, with Millsap adding eight rebounds and Horford pulling down nine along with six assists in Atlanta's sixth straight win -- and third in four meetings with Cleveland this season.

"You don't want to say it's just one more game, because they are a great team and you don't want to disrespect any team," said Hawks forward Mike Scott. "Don't think too highly of yourself, don't think too low of yourself."

The Hawks also received strong contributions from their bench, with Dennis Schroder chipping in 15 points with eight assists and Mike Scott netting 14 points in 17 minutes, and made their mark on the defensive end as well.

Atlanta forced 18 turnovers, including nine from LeBron James, who shot just 5-of-13 while managing 18 points.

"It was the first time they used that game plan on us. They kind of caught us by surprise," said James afterward. "Down the road, if we get to that point, we'll be all right."

Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers with 20 points, while Kevin Love had 14 with eight rebounds.

Though the Hawks were in front for most of the night, they didn't pull away until dominating the first five-plus minutes of the fourth quarter.

After Schroder's driving layup with 30.2 seconds to go in the third snapped a 79-79 tie, Atlanta began the final frame on a 17-4 tear to put the game out of reach. Kyle Korver buried a pair of 3-pointers during the pivotal surge, and Schroder had one of his own before Scott capped the burst with a jumper that increased the lead to 98-83 with 6:50 to play.

The Cavaliers shot just 5-of-17 in the fourth quarter and never got closer than nine points down following the Hawks' big flurry.

Cleveland had trailed by as much as a dozen early in the third quarter, but back-to-back baskets by James kicked off a 14-2 stretch that had the Cavs up 66-65 midway through the period.

They were in an even bigger hole during the opening quarter, during which the Hawks hit on a torrid 70.8 percent of their shots and built a 36-19 lead at the stanza's end. A 15-1 tear that turned a one-point edge into a 26-11 advantage enabled Atlanta to own a double-digit cushion.

"We were ready to go, ready to play this game," Horford said. "We wanted to come out and set the tone."

The Hawks had a 15-point lead entering the final two minutes of the first half, but a Timofey Mozgov layup followed by Iman Shumpert's 3-pointer brought Cleveland within 53-43 at the break.

Game Notes

Atlanta outscored the Cavaliers by a 54-24 margin in the paint ... The Hawks wore retro jerseys from the 1980's as part of Dominique Wilkins night, which capped a week-long celebration of the team's all-time leader in points and games played that included the unveiling of a statue of the Hall of Famer ... The loss was Cleveland's fifth in a row in Atlanta and ninth in its last 10 meetings with the Hawks as the visitor ... The Cavaliers attempted 38 shots from 3-point range, hitting 13.