The Atlanta Hawks came into their game 3 matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers looking to hold form at home in their 2016 Eastern Conference semi-finals series. For the first time in over three years, a healthy Kyle Korver was moved to the bench in favor of Thabo Sefolosha. The Hawks were looking to have defense be their calling card and work their offense through their big three of Jeff Teague, Al Horford and Paul Millsap plus some bonus firepower from Korver with the second unit. It looked good to start but when the fourth quarter came around the Cavs, behind their own big three plus one, scored 35 points in the fourth quarter and held the Hawks to only 17 in the final frame.
The Cavs were led by Channing Frye coming off the bench and pouring in 27 points. After Cleveland decimated the Hawks in game 2 with their barrage of three-pointers, they continued to do the same with 21 made three’s as a team in game 3 and Frye made a team high seven of them while also grabbing seven rebounds. Kyrie Irving and LeBron James both scored 24 points with ‘The King’ posting another near triple-double grabbing 13 rebounds and handing out eight assists. Kevin Love scored 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.
Al Horford seemed to finally came into his own as he’s been quietly one of the biggest disappointments this postseason. He scored 24 points on 11-15 shooting in 31 minutes of play. Jeff Teague scored 19 points and handed out 14 assists for the Hawks while Paul Millsap scored 17 with eight rebounds. Korver came off the bench and produced, scoring 18 points for Atlanta.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will look for a sweep in game 4 on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 on ESPN.
