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Hawks go for another win over Cavs

Mar 18, 2012 - 2:58 PM (Sports Network) - The Atlanta Hawks have had the Cleveland Cavaliers' number lately and will shoot for their sixth straight win in the series when the two teams clash today at Quicken Loans Arena.

Atlanta recorded a 121-94 win over Cleveland at Philips Arena on Jan. 21 this season behind Joe Johnson's 25 points. The Hawks, though, haven't fared so well in the Forest City lately with 11 losses in the past 15 games there.

The Hawks hope to solve their recent road woes and have dropped two straight and four of five games as the visitor, but rebounded with Friday's 102-88 home win versus the Washington Wizards. Johnson went 6-of-8 from three-point range en route to a game-high 34 points and Josh Smith filled the stat sheet with 23 points, eight assists and seven rebounds for Atlanta.

"We came in and probably were a little flat early on," said Smith. "We we finally found our stride and we were able to play some defense in the second half to create such a large deficit."

Smith is averaging 23.9 ppg in his last 11 games and has scored 20-plus points in eight of the previous nine contests. Johnson has notched 25.2 ppg since returning from injury five games ago.

After Sunday's game against the Cavs, Atlanta, which is 12-13 on the road and seeded sixth in the East, will return home for a three-game residency versus the Celtics, Cavs and Nets.

The Hawks are 23-3 when scoring 90 or more points this season, and could have center Jason Collins (elbow) back today.

Cleveland has dropped two in a row since a three-game winning streak and lost for the eighth time in 11 tries with Wednesday's 115-105 setback at Milwaukee.

Rookie Kyrie Irving had a game-high 28 points and Alonzo Gee scored 19 for the Cavaliers, who are still just three games off the final postseason spot in the East despite owning a 16-25 mark. Daniel Gibson posted 18 points in defeat and Antawn Jamison added 13 and five rebounds.

"When you allow a team to shoot that well, it puts too much trouble on us offensively," Cavs head coach Byron Scott said. "We're not there yet offensively that we can allow teams to have that kind of field day."

Irving leads all rookies with 18.5 points this season, while Jamison is posting 23.4 ppg in his previous nine games for a Cavs team that owns just an 8-19 mark against the East in 2011-12 and has dropped six in a row in matchups with teams from the conference.

The Cavs, who are 9-13 as the host this season, will start a three-game road trip against New Jersey, Atlanta and Orlando Monday night.