The Atlanta Hawks are 9-11, but three of those wins are against the two best teams in the Eastern Conference.
The Hawks defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, 117-101, in their NBA Cup game Friday night. Cleveland lost its third game of the season, with two of those losses coming in consecutive games to the Hawks.
Atlanta pulled away with a 39-point third quarter where Trae Young delivered five of his 11 assists and seven different Hawks players scored. Young is on a tear as a distributor, averaging 15.3 assists in his last six games. He’s leading the NBA with 12.4 dimes per game.
That might be how the Hawks are defeating the stout Cavaliers defense. For the last two games, Atlanta has 72 assists to Cleveland’s 52. When they knocked off the Boston Celtics in an NBA Cup game on Nov. 12, the Hawks also had a big assist advantage, 35-28.
They also got three steals from the NBA’s top thief, Dyson Daniels. He’s averaging 3.1 swipes per game and had six when the Hawks upset the Celtics.
Part of Atlanta’s excellence against top teams is that they’ve gotten healthier this month. And they’re also getting contributions from No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher, who has totaled 28 points on 10-for-18 shooting versus the Cavaliers this week.
But now Atlanta is in seventh place in the East, and it’s in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup. Even though the Hawks are 9-11, they’re looking like a team no one wants to play.