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Hawks head to Cleveland to meet Cavs

Dec 26, 2013 - 3:17 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Atlanta Hawks will try to get back into the win column Thursday night when they visit Quicken Loans Arena to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Hawks had a three-game winning streak halted Monday night in an overtime road loss to two-time defending NBA champions, the Miami Heat. Atlanta fell 121-119 and blew a seven-point lead with under two minutes to go.

Jeff Teague filled the stat sheet in the loss for Atlanta with 26 points, eight assists and six boards while Paul Millsap finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds while sinking a career-high seven treys. Al Horford went for 21 points and 11 rebounds in the setback, and Kyle Korver made 5-of-8 from 3- point range to extend his streak of consecutive games with a 3 to 97 games.

The Hawks shot an impressive 17-for-34 from long range.

Atlanta hits the road for three of its next four and that's a bit of a problem. The Hawks are just 4-9 outside of Phillips Arena and they've dropped five in a row on the road.

The Hawks can take some solace knowing they hit the road against Cleveland. Atlanta has won 10 of its last 12 against the Cavs and four of its last five at the Q.

The Cavaliers head into Thursday's tilt the losers of two straight. Both setbacks were ugly -- a 100-84 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Saturday, in Chicago, and a 115-92 drubbing at home to the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night.

"Our sense of urgency the last two ball games has been non-existent," said Cavs coach Mike Brown. "I'm going to keep moving pieces and searching until I feel like I have a group of guys that are going to consistently play at a high level defensively. We have to rebound, defend and be physical out there without fouling."

The Pistons shot almost 48 percent from the field and held Cleveland to 38 percent shooting. Detroit clobbered the Cavaliers on the boards to the tune of 50-39.

Kyrie Irving paced the Cavs with 21 points and seven assists. Tristan Thompson added 17 points, while Tyler Zeller contributed 13 points in 13:54 of action. Matthew Dellavedova added 10 for the second unit.

Shooting guard Dion Waiters is expected to miss his fourth consecutive game with right wrist tendinitis.

Things haven't been great for Cleveland, which has dropped four of its last five, especially against Atlanta. But the Cavaliers are 8-5 at the Q this season.