Cleveland Cavaliers fall to Atlanta Hawks: Saddiq Bey too much to handle

The Cleveland Cavaliers came into this game following a miraculous comeback win in their previous matchup against the Boston Celtics. However, they couldn't repeat that magic tonight as Saddiq Bey and the Atlanta Hawks took care of business, winning 112-101 at State Farm Arena.

Both of these squads are dealing with injuries to key players in their rotation. For the Cavs, All-Star Donovan Mitchell (knee) and now Evan Mobley (ankle) are both resting due to lower body ailments. Meanwhile, Trae Young has been sitting due to a finger issue and in this contest, Most Improved Player candidate Jalen Johnson was seen on the sidelines with an ankle sprain.

With all these injuries taking place, role players needed to step up and that's exactly what happened tonight. Saddiq Bey had an amazing game, finishing with 23 points and 8 rebounds while shooting 57% from the field. Bogdan Bogdanovic also scored 23 points on 8/15 shooting. Dejounte Murray had 18 points and 9 assists while De'Andre Hunter contributed 17 points off the bench.

Jarrett Allen led the way for Cleveland, recording 18 points and 19 rebounds on 7/11 shooting. Isaac Okoro scored 17 points and Darius Garland finished with 15 points to go along with 7 assists. Georges Niang, Caris LeVert, and Craig Porter Jr. all contributed 13 points each.

Atlanta improves to 28-34 with this win and now sit just 1.5 games behind the 9th seeded Bulls. They seem likely to remain in the play-in tournament and the only question will be whether they can win out or if they'll get eliminated. The Hawks are 5-5 over their last 10 games and will look to pick up their 3rd straight win when they face off against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday.

The Cavs fall to 40-22 with this loss, dropping to 1 game behind the Bucks for the 2 seed. This was an underwhelming performance for this group after an unbelievable comeback against the Celtics. Cleveland is trying to make a deep playoff push and will need their key players to get healthy. They are 5-5 over their last 10 games and will have a tough matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.