Cleveland Cavaliers’ season ended by Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks, 107-101

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Cavaliers’ season is over. Trae Young ended it.

Despite getting off to a fast start, leading for most of the game and being ahead by 14 points, the Cavaliers lost to the Atlanta Hawks in the final play-in game Friday night, 107-101. The Hawks will be the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed, facing Miami in the opening round of the playoffs beginning on Sunday.

The Cavs are left wondering what could’ve been.

It once looked like this would be Cleveland’s dream season -- the first playoff appearance without LeBron James since 1998. Just about two months ago, the Cavs were near the top of the conference, talking about elevated expectations. But the Cavs couldn’t finish.

Not this season. Not Friday night. Onto the draft lottery once again (the Cavs will keep their first-round pick that seemed headed to Indiana as part of the Caris LeVert deadline deal).

Prior to Friday’s game, Cleveland coaches showed players an important stat. Teams in the play-in tournament that have won the first quarter were 8-2. It’s now 8-3.

In a complete 180 from Tuesday’s loss to Brooklyn, the Cavs erupted early. Fueled by Jarrett Allen’s gutsy return from a fractured middle finger on his left hand, Cleveland led by nine points in the first four minutes. That lead quickly ballooned to 14. The Cavs were ahead by 11 at the end of the quarter. By the end of the first half, the lead was 10.

Twenty-four minutes from a playoff berth. All they had to do was close. Instead, it was the 18th loss this season when leading by 10 or more points. In the biggest game, the most troubling issue showed again.

Kept in check for the first half, scoring just six points, Young exploded for 16 in the third quarter. He scored Atlanta’s last 12, pulling the Hawks even at 84 heading into the fourth, where they won the decisive quarter, 23-17. Cleveland’s offense lost its flow and seemed to crumble under the weight of fourth-quarter, playoff-like pressure.

“I think more so than anything our offense slowed down,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said following the loss. “We weren’t moving as much. There was a lot of isolation and standing still and that gave them an opportunity to get going. That’s something that we’ll go back and study it and make sure we continue to find ways to get better over the summer.”

Young finished with a game-high 38 points, 32 in the second half. He made 10 of his final 14 shots. Each time the Cavs tried to surge back in the fourth quarter, Young responded, drilling long-range 3s, beating multiple defenders off the dribble, knocking down runners or flipping in layups. He nearly outscored the Cavs, who scored just 40 points, by himself in the second half.

“He hit some shots from the jump circle,” Bickerstaff said.

Bogdan Bogdanovic chipped in with 19 points off the bench. Danilo Gallinari added 14. Kevin Huerter tallied 13.

Atlanta, which advanced to the conference finals last season and used that experience to its advantage, played the entire second half without starting center Clint Capela. The active big man hyperextended his right knee late in the second quarter, finishing with seven points and eight rebounds.

The Cavs were led by Lauri Markkanen. The sharpshooter poured in 26 points, going 6-of-12 from 3-point range. All-Star point guard Darius Garland, hounded by the Hawks’ defense throughout, finished with 21 points and nine assists but also shot just 9-of-27 and committed five turnovers.

“He meant so much to us, he grew so much, he separated himself from the pack and he needs to keep going. This one moment, it doesn’t define him,” Bickerstaff said of Garland. “What I know this moment will do is motivate him. I know what his work ethic is and I know what he’ll look like over the summer and he’s going to come back even better next year.”

Wunderkind Evan Mobley, the potential Rookie of the Year, capped his brilliant maiden voyage, scoring 18 points to go with eight rebounds, five assists and two blocks.

Allen, who missed 19 games with the finger injury, played 36 minutes, scoring 11 points and making all four of his shot attempts.

“I think we’re still processing it,” Allen said. “A lot of the guys in the locker room just still sitting in the chairs, and we’re still like, ‘damn, it’s really over.’ And then two seconds later, and it’s like we’re laughing because we had a hell of a year. A lot has happened this year positive, negative, but we look at all the times that we did play well, and we came together. And that was all positive.”

After winning just 22 games last season and 19 each the previous two, the Cavs were expected to be a doormat once again. But a mix of talent and chemistry allowed them to transform into one of the league’s great surprises. They finished with a winning record. They increased their win total by 22 games, the second biggest improvement in franchise history. They advanced to the play-in tournament, gaining valuable knowhow that should help them take the next step.

While the future is bright, Friday still stings -- in part because injuries robbed them of a chance to complete the turnaround.

“You think about all that stuff,” Bickerstaff said. “You go all the way back to the beginning of it, losing Collin (Sexton), losing Ricky (Rubio). You think about what we are when we’re whole and what position we’re in. When you’re in the season, you’re just trying to figure out a way to get through it and get to the next game. When you have a moment, even if it’s watching film of a team that you played earlier in the year and you see that team, it is, you do think about it.

“But I’ll give our guys so much credit, no matter what happened, no matter what was thrown their way, they figured out a way to go out and scrap and put themselves in the position that we were in tonight. We’ve talked about it before, but you need these moments of disappointment. All successful teams at some point in time have had a moment of disappointment that has driven individuals and teams to become better and I expect this to be that moment.”

Shortly after the final buzzer, Young, who was heckled in a vulgar way all night, slammed the ball off the floor. He then waved goodbye to the raucous crowd headed for the exits. So cold.

“I mean, he deserves the nickname for a reason -- Ice Trae,” Allen said. “He went out there, hit some crazy shots. It seems like he hit like eight 3s during the game, nine 3s. But I’m looking at the stat sheet, it’s only four. Whenever he needed to hit the shot in the moment, he did. He was pulling from the logo down there and it’s tough to guard. He showed why he’s one of the best in the NBA.”

Living up to the clever moniker, Young put Cleveland’s playoff hopes on ice -- until next season.

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