Kevin Love

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6-players-who-will-figure-prominently-on-the-big-stage-of-hawks-cavs

6 Players Who Will Figure Prominently On the Big Stage of Hawks/Cavs

7-things-the-hawks-have-to-do-to-beat-cleveland

7 Things the Hawks Have to Do To Beat Cleveland

Two hot teams will battle in Cleveland Saturday when the Atlanta Hawks, winners of four straight, face the new-look Cavaliers, who have won three in a row.

Cavs beat writer Joe Gabriele spent some time chatting on Twitter with us Saturday morning:

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Cleveland Beat Writer @CavsJoeG Praises Teague In Twitter Chat

The Hawks have four games this week, including a rematch with the Knicks, a visit from former assistant coach Quin Snyder and matchups with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.

Details:  7:30 p.m. (ET) | Madison Square Garden | SportSouth, 92.9 The Game

The Hawks outscored the Knicks 55-35 to erase a 13-point halftime deficit in Saturday's second half.  The rematch comes 48 hours later, this time in New York's house, and Atlanta will need more consistent play if it hopes to win its first road game of the season.  A big reason for the comeback was DeMarre Carroll and Paul Millsap's ability to limit Carmelo Anthony.  After a 14-point first quarter, the former scoring leader had just six the rest of the way, and the Hawks locked down everyone else to win it.  New York is still learning a new offense under first-year head coach Derek Fisher, so it's expected to take some time.  They're also without point guards Jose Calderon and Pablo Prigioni, as well as big man Andrea Bargnani, which hasn't helped.  Atlanta has the fortune of seemingly catching the Knicks at the right time: early and injured.  Now it's up to them to take advantage.

Details:  7:30 p.m. (ET) | Philips Arena | SportSouth, 92.9 The Game | Get Tickets

It only took one season as a head coach for a Mike Budenholzer disciple to get his own head coaching job.  Quin Snyder returns to Atlanta Wednesday, bringing with him a much-improved Jazz team that's off to a respectable start.  Utah's new-look offense features many of the principles Snyder preached in Coach Bud's system: pace and space.  Jazz fans have launded the new-look offense, and it has led to a balanced scoring effort early.  Five guys are averaging double figures, and that doesn't include Trey Burke's 9.7.  Part of the reason for the offensive success has been 46 percent shooting, good for eighth in the league so far.  Unfortunately for them, most of that hot shooting has been inside the arc, and the Hawks will have to take note and force some outside jumpers.  Atlanta has had good success against Utah in recent years, but Snyder will have his guys prepared to face a team he knows very well.

Gone is LeBron James, but the Miami Heat are still right near the top of the East standings early as if nothing has changed.  The biggest reason why?  Chris Bosh.  He's been one of the best players in the early part of the season, averaging better than 23 points and 10 rebounds in seven games.  His all-around game continues to improve, and Erik Spoelstra playing him at center is a nightmare matchup for opposing bigs.  The addition of Loul Deng has helped on both ends, as he's been the team's primary wing defender while averaging 15.7 points on 56 percent shooting offensively (he also looks healthier than he has in a while).  The Hawks can't relax when they see a LeBron-less Heat team Friday night, as these guys can still turn up the defensive pressure as well as anybody, and they're very good in the open court.

Details:  7:30 p.m. (ET) | Quicken Loans Arena | SportSouth, 92.9 The Game

Many have been critical of Cleveland's 2-3 start, but let's not forget that the "Big Three" in Miami got off to a similarly slow start while chemistry was still building before eventually catching fire and winning four straight conference championships.  LeBron James is shooting just 42 percent, Kevin Love is shooting 37 percent and the team is averaging fewer than 18 assists per game.  As the shots begin to fall for the two superstars, the assists should go up as well.  Defending the Cavaliers starts with making things tough for James.  You're not going to stop him, but making him work hard on both ends gives you your best chance to win.  Love is a weapon as well, as he can shoot from anywhere on the floor.  He's also a monster on the glass (11.2 rebounds in five games), so Atlanta's bigs will be challenged.  Offensively, the Hawks just need to continue to do what's been working with ball movement, drives and kicking to shooters.

Al Horford vs. Chris Bosh on Friday.  Two centers who can shoot and run the floor make for a fun matchup.

IT PROBABLY WON'T HAPPEN, BUT WE HOPE IT DOES...

Carmelo Anthony will score six points in the final three quarters Monday.  A repeat defensive performance should mean another Hawks win.

IT PROBABLY WILL HAPPEN, BUT WE HOPE IT DOESN'T...

There will be more nail-biters this week.  Last week had its share of them, and while we hope to be comfortably ahead in all of our games, it just doesn't seem to be our style.

Adreian Payne (Plantar fasciitis):  He's listed as day-to-day.

45 years ago Monday, Lou Hudson scored 57 points as the Hawks beat the Bulls 133-132 in Auburn, Ala.

Dennis Schröder leads the NBA in Player Efficiency Rating (PER). The stat assigns value to player accomplishments (made shot, assist, etc.) and penalized them for mistakes (missed shot, turnover, etc.).

Here's where the various sports websites have us in their rankings this week:

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Hawks See Wade, LeBron For First Time This Week

The USA National Team announced Sunday evening that they had invited Paul Millsap to their training camp in Las Vegas at the eleventh hour.

The Millsap addition makes sense after Kevin Love, Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge all withdrew from the team, and he has a legitimate chance to make the 12-man roster.

After all, only he, Kenneth Faried, Andre Drummond, Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins can be legitimately classified as "big men," and Millsap can stretch the floor better than any of them.  Among that group, only Millsap is a serious three-point threat (he shot 36% from deep last season), adding that to his arsenal in his first season in Coach Bud's system.

The U.S. may be a bit undersized if Millsap is in the game as the team's power forward, but if he's playing alonside Drummond, Davis or even Cousins, they should be okay.  While Drummond, Faried, Davis and Cousins can all play in the post, and guys like Chandler Parsons and Gordon Hayward can stretch defenses with perimeter shooting, only Millsap can do both consistently.

Millsap's teammate Kyle Korver also deserves a decent look.  The U.S. team is filled with terrific shooters, but perhaps no one can put the kind of pressure on a defense that Korver can.  He's a veteran, particularly at creating space for himself in catch-and-shoot situations.  He has arguably the quickest release of anyone in the NBA, and even when he doesn't touch the ball there are times when he should arguably be given an assist because of the lanes he opens up for drivers.

Sure, there are more talented players with the ball in their hands, but Korver is probably the best shooter on the roster, and he could be a lethal bench weapon for head coach Mike Krzyzewski.  Korver's road to the final 12 may be more difficult however, as he'll likely have to beat out some combination of Hayward, Parsons, Bradley Beal, Klay Thompson and DeMar DeRozan.

Krzyzewski will have some tough decisions to make in the next few weeks, and both Millsap and Korver should be right in the discussion.

Kevin Love

6 Players Who Will Figure Prominently On the Big Stage of Hawks/Cavs

7 Things the Hawks Have to Do To Beat Cleveland

Cleveland Beat Writer @CavsJoeG Praises Teague In Twitter Chat

Hawks See Wade, LeBron For First Time This Week

Millsap Addition Gives USA Stretch Power Forward