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Kevin Love

Cavaliers have become real team since last facing Hawks

Ray Glier
Special for USA TODAY Sports
Cavaliers forward LeBron James takes on three Hawks defenders on a drive in December.

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Hawks established their persona in December as the team that carpools to wins without a superstar driving. The Cleveland Cavaliers, meanwhile, are the team of the unremitting megastar, LeBron James, a squad which took its time crystallizing into a championship contender.

For the first time since Cleveland started to coalesce with its trio of stars — James, forward Kevin Love, and guard Kyrie Irving, alongside January — acquisitions Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, and Timofey Mozgov, the Cavs take on Team Hawks. Atlanta (48-12) has a 10.5-game lead in the Eastern Conference on the Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls and on-rushing Cleveland (39-24), and Friday night's game at Philips Arena has already been pegged by some as a logical preview to the East finals.

Atlanta leads the season series with Cleveland 2-1, but this matchup is a more legitimate referendum on the East race, and particularly on the Cavs.

"We don't talk often about team goals, but we know there is a great chance we're going to see them in the playoffs," Hawks All-Star guard Kyle Korver said. "It's just one game and it's a regular season game, but at the same time these are the games you get up for."

So is it really going to be that clash of styles? The Cavs' volcanic offensive talent against the Hawks' connected defense and eurythmic offense?

Matt Bullard, the NBA player-turned-broadcaster who has called Houston Rockets games against the Hawks and Cavs in the past week, said that while the Cavaliers may look LeBron-heavy on offense many nights, they have become a more focused defensive team. Irving and Love have adjusted on that end of the floor, and that is why the Cavs are an NBA-best 20-4 since Jan. 15. Before this season, Love and Irving were part of teams that weren't winning regularly and they developed reckless defensive skills or no defensive skills at all, Bullard said.

"It has taken Kevin Love a while to pay attention to playing good defense," Bullard said. "Irving didn't have to play great defense. They develop bad habits and those are hard to break. It takes time; you have to get out of those bad habits."

Going into Wednesday night's game at Toronto, Cleveland was second in the league in opponents' defensive field goal percentage (41.8%) in the 23 games dating back to mid-January. The Raptors then went out and shot 54% in the Cavs' 120-112 victory, which showed Cleveland has work to do. It also showed Cleveland can just out-score you to win.

"With everybody healthy they are a fantastic team, they are going to be hard to beat because of the sheer talent level," Bullard said. "You have to remember that when LeBron first went to Miami, it took the Heat a half season to get things clicking and become a really good team. You can see the same thing happening with Cleveland. Kevin Love and Irving got all the shots before this season. It has taken time for them to adjust and change their games."

In a warm-up game for the Cavs, the Hawks gave up 59 points in the first half against Houston on Tuesday and were down 14 at intermission to the Rockets, who were playing without suspended star James Harden.

Coach Mike Budenholzer came into the locker room at halftime and told his team, "I'm not going to yell at you." Instead he used video clips of the first half breakdowns to shame his team. Houston had made 51% of its shots.

"He showed clips of us not playing at a high enough level energy-wise," Korver said. "He told us we've got to care a little more. We were letting them get loose balls. We try and be a consistent team and play with effort every night. This is kind of the tough stretch of the season keeping your focus. We have to challenge ourselves mentally to stay sharp and stay with the habits we have been trying to build."

The Hawks awoke the NBA to their potential with a 19-game winning streak from Dec. 27 to Jan. 31. Then came a stretch of four losses in seven games. Before the rest of the league could claim the Hawks' pre-All Star Game bonanza was some sort of pyramid scheme, Atlanta has reeled off five consecutive wins.

The Hawks goal Friday night will be to make the Cavs stop and think on offense. In the first 7 to 10 seconds of the shot clock, Cleveland makes 50.4% of its shots. When they go fast, the Cavs carve up defenses. But if the ball stops and ends up in you-know-who's hands, Atlanta has a better chance to win the possession with its defensive shell around the basket.

The Hawks acquired 6-7 Thabo Sefolosha in the off-season to help deal with James, but Sefolosha is out with a right calf strain at least until mid-March.

After playing Atlanta and Cleveland in the span of three days, Rockets' veteran guard Jason Terry said, "I'm taking chemistry over talent all day. That's how we won a championship in 2011 (with the Dallas Mavericks, who beat James' first-year Miami Heat)."

Terry did not mention the Hawks by name in his declaration, though, and the Cavaliers are also showing a winners' alchemy.

"Any time you have a team that is new coming together it takes a little time to gel," Korver said. "They are finding their chemistry. There is a process of learning how to play together and when you figure it out, you're really dangerous."

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