The Cleveland Cavaliers begin a home-and-home series against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, aiming to continue their perfect run in Ohio.
The Cavaliers, who will visit the Hawks on Friday, bounced back from their only loss of the season last week with strong wins over the New Orleans Pelicans and Toronto Raptors.
Cleveland improved to an impressive 17-1 record, including 10-0 at home, following their 122-108 victory over the Raptors on Sunday.
“I’m surprised by the (record), but I’m not surprised by the play style,” Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen said, according to The Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I’ve expected us to come out and play like we do, play at a high level. Still, 17-1 is incredible.”
Ty Jerome followed his 29-point performance in the Cavaliers’ 128-100 win over the Pelicans on Wednesday with 26 points off the bench against Toronto. He has made 19 of 33 shots and 11 of 20 three-pointers in the last two games.
“He’s just in a state of grace right now. It’s beautiful to watch,” Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said.
Jerome has scored at least 24 points in three of his last four games.
“I just keep doing my job, and that’s just reading the game,” he said. “And if I have space I’m going to shoot it. I think just the more guys you have on court that are aggressive, it gives Donovan (Mitchell) space, it gives Darius (Garland) space, it gives Evan (Mobley) space. We’re putting four or five guys out there that are all aggressive, and it’s like, what’s the defense going to do?”
Mitchell, who leads the team with 24.4 points per game, scored 26 points against the Raptors. He averaged 26.7 points, 8.7 assists, and 7.3 rebounds in three games against Atlanta last season.
Jarrett Allen contributed 23 points and 13 rebounds, recording his sixth straight double-double.
While the Cavaliers have surged to the top of the standings, the Hawks have dropped a few spots after losing their third straight game on Monday.
Jalen Johnson recorded 28 points and 11 rebounds, and Trae Young added 18 points and 16 assists in a 129-119 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Young has had double-digit assists in four straight games and seven of his last nine games.
However, Young admitted he was frustrated by the simple defense used by Dallas.
“It’s tough,” Young said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We’re taking a lot of twos; we’re taking a lot of mid-range shots. I hate that they played a lot of a high-school defense — zone — and it worked. That should never work: going into the zone and being able to stop us.”
Bogdan Bogdanovic followed up a 16-point performance in a 136-122 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Friday by scoring a season-high 18 points against the Mavericks. He made 14 of 26 shots in those two games after shooting just 4-for-21 in his previous two games.
