Hawks erase 15-point deficit, beat Cavaliers 114-111

Donovan Mitchell missed a 25-foot pull-up three with 8.7 seconds left, rebounded it himself, and missed a 23-foot pull-up three with 1.4 seconds left. The Atlanta Hawks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-111 at State Farm Arena on Thursday night.

Atlanta trailed 31-16 with 10:31 left in the second quarter. It outscored Cleveland 98-80 from there. Onyeka Okongwu scored 29 points with 12 rebounds, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker made two free throws with 15.3 seconds left to make it a three-point game.

The Hawks are 3-3. The Cavaliers had won three straight. They are 3-2, and 0-2 on the road.

Cleveland starts fast

Cleveland scored 28 points in the first quarter to Atlanta's 16. An 8-0 run that began with 1:35 left in the quarter made it 31-16 early in the second. It was the biggest lead of the night for either team.

The turn in the second quarter

Jock Landale hit a three at 9:51 to make it 31-19. Aaron Wiggins added a layup and two threes, and Atlanta pulled to within 35-30 at 5:52. Evan Mobley hit a jumper for Cleveland at 5:25 to make it 37-30.

Then the Cavaliers stopped scoring. They had no points for the next 3:54, until Mobley's dunk at 1:31.

In that time Atlanta scored 13 straight. Okongwu scored five of them, a layup and a free throw at 5:14 and a running layup at 4:33 that tied it at 37. Dyson Daniels had a layup. CJ McCollum hit a floater at 3:12 for a 39-37 lead, the Hawks' first of the night, and Atlanta did not trail again. Jalen Johnson and Alexander-Walker added layups, and it was 43-37 at 1:45.

Okongwu hit a 25-foot three at 1:22 to make it 46-39. Sam Merrill answered with a three, and Harden made two of three free throws at 6.1 seconds. Atlanta led 46-44 at halftime. It had won the quarter 30-16.

Atlanta pulls away, Cleveland keeps coming

The Hawks opened the third quarter with an 11-2 run. Okongwu hit threes at 11:33 and 10:02, Alexander-Walker made three free throws, and Johnson scored from a foot out. It was 57-46 with 10:02 left, Atlanta's biggest lead of the night.

Cleveland cut it to one, 83-82, with 1:21 left in the quarter. Atlanta answered with eight straight points, six before the buzzer and two after it, and led 91-82 at 11:28 of the fourth.

The Cavaliers did not go away. James Harden scored on a driving layup and made the free throw at 1:45 to make it 108-104. Alexander-Walker answered with a layup at 1:27. Mobley dunked off a Mitchell pass at 1:19 to make it 110-106. Mitchell made three free throws at 43.2 seconds to make it 110-109.

Okongwu answered with a two-point shot at 28.2 seconds for 112-109. Mitchell scored from five feet at 20.6 seconds to make it 112-111. Alexander-Walker then made both free throws at 15.3 seconds after a Cavaliers foul.

Mitchell had the last two looks. He missed from 25 feet at 8.7 seconds and rebounded it. He missed from 23 feet at 1.4 seconds.

The numbers

Okongwu made 11 of 17 shots, including four of six threes, and had two assists. Alexander-Walker scored 25 on 8-of-17 shooting, 4 of 12 from three. Wiggins scored 20 in 24 minutes off the bench, going 8 of 14 with four threes. Johnson had 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. McCollum scored five on 1-of-8 shooting and had eight assists.

For Cleveland, Harden scored 24 on 7-of-14 shooting with five rebounds and four assists. Mitchell scored 22 on 7-of-19 and made one of nine threes. Merrill scored 16 off the bench with four threes on eight tries. Jarrett Allen had 14 points and eight rebounds, and Mobley had 11 points and seven assists.

Atlanta made 17 of 43 threes. Cleveland made 13 of 42. That was a 12-point gap from the arc, 51-39. The Cavaliers made 22 of 29 free throws to Atlanta's 13 of 18, but the Hawks won the rebounding 53-45, with 15 offensive rebounds to nine. They also had 34 assists to 26 and won the fast-break points 15-4. Atlanta had 11 turnovers and Cleveland nine.

Both teams played on Wednesday. Atlanta lost at home to Miami 129-117, and Cleveland beat Washington 121-111 at home. The crowd on Thursday was 15,025.

What is next

Atlanta plays at New Orleans on Saturday, October 31, at 7 p.m. ET. Cleveland plays at Milwaukee the same night at 8 p.m. ET.

Atlanta's first two wins of the season came on the road, at Orlando on October 21, 132-125, and at Charlotte on October 23, 128-81. The Charlotte game is covered in the Friday NBA roundup.

Scoring

Atlanta: Onyeka Okongwu 29, Nickeil Alexander-Walker 25, Aaron Wiggins 20, Jalen Johnson 17, Jock Landale 6, Luguentz Dort 6, CJ McCollum 5, Dyson Daniels 4, Kingston Flemings 2.

Cleveland: James Harden 24, Donovan Mitchell 22, Sam Merrill 16, Jarrett Allen 14, Evan Mobley 11, Mario Hezonja 10, Tyrese Proctor 7, Peyton Watson 4, Jaylon Tyson 3, Craig Porter Jr. 0.

By quarter: Atlanta 16, 30, 43, 25. Cleveland 28, 16, 38, 29.

Update: Aaron Wiggins' 20 points are in the Free Minutes waiver column on him.