Atlanta

Free Throws Expensive as Hawks Still Winless

Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services 

Atlanta easily maintained its perfect record, unblemished by wins, in falling 79-93to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Hawks joins the Hornets, Warriors, and Grizzlies as the only 0-4 teams in the league: good company, bad reason. Antoine Walker tried his best to match LeBron James's 25 points and 10 rebounds, and if he had made five of his six missed three point attempts, this would have been Atlanta's game. As it stands, it was a disappointing home opener as the Hawks scored a franchise-low total of 25 points in the second half.

Predrag Drobnjak had an unusual game against Cleveland's Zydrunas Ilgauskas: he scored 19 points in just 24 minutes of action to temper Z's 27 points, but Drobnjak managed to corral just a single defensive rebound and none on the offensive glass.

Free throws were again the major difference for the Hawks. Atlanta actually made more field goals than Cleveland, and both teams were off-target from downtown, with Cleveland hitting 2-of-8 and Atlanta hitting 1-of-11. Rebounds, assists, steals, fouls, and blocks were all comparable but Atlanta had a lot more shooting fouls. Cleveland shot 36 free throws, making 29, to Atlanta's 23 attempts, of which 14 were made.

Walker had a game-high six assists in front of the sellout Atlanta crowd. He was four assists and one rebound shy of a triple-double.

NEXT GAME
The Cavaliers (0-4) face one of the three other winless teams as they face the New Orleans Hornets (0-4) on Friday, November 12 at 8:00pm Eastern. The game will be broadcast on WPXA and NBA League Pass.

TEAM NOTES
John Manasso ofThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes: Without having gone through a full practice, Jelani McCoy, the newest Hawk, did not make his debut in the team's home opener Tuesday against Cleveland. The 6-foot-10 forward/center spent several weeks with Milwaukee during the preseason before being cut on Oct. 28, but before that he hadn't been with a team since Nov. 6 of the previous season.

INJURY UPDATE
Chris Crawford(torn ACL) is out for the season and on the injured list.Tony Delk(sore right knee) is also on the injured list but hopes to be back next week.Donta Smith(lower back strain) is also on the injured list.Jason Collier(severe bronchitis) missed the last two road games as he was sent home to Atlanta but he returned to action last night.

NEWSLINES

B. Wright ofThe Cleveland Plain Dealerwrites: Coach Paul Silas broke into the NBA as an eager rookie with the St. Louis Hawks in 1964. Silas wanted to learn as much as he could about the game and he had one of the best teachers in Hall of Fame forward Bob Pettit.

The Morning Journalwrites: Cavaliers coach Paul Silas wandered over to the scorer's table with less than a minute left in the game and shook his head. ''It wasn't easy,'' he said.Even though their 93-79 victory over the Hawks before a standing-room only crowd of 19,624 at Philips Arena was anything but trouble-free, it was a thing of beauty to the Cavaliers.

Brian Windhorst ofThe Beacon Journalwrites: Atlanta is the home of more NBA players than any other major city and the summer home of two Cavaliers.Considering it isn't near a major body of water and does experience freezing temperatures in the winter -- unlike other popular climes in Florida, California and Arizona -- that fact is mildly surprising. But the cultural and community aspects of the city are very appealing to pro athletes. ``It is the kind of place that has something for everyone,'' said Cavaliers forward Ira Newble, who grew up in Detroit but bought a house in Altanta's trendy Buckhead neighborhood while playing for the Hawks. Several of Newble's neighbors are NFL players. ``If you are single, there's lots of things to do,'' Newble said. ``If you have a family, it is a great place to raise them.''

Tim Tucker ofThe Atlanta Journal-Constitutionwrites: Dominique Wilkins seemed more nervous before Tuesday night's Hawks-Cavaliers game than before the 1,100-plus games he played in the NBA. His role this night was to escort a bird onto the court. "Hope he doesn't start pecking me," Wilkins said. As Philips Arena rocked, Wilkins walked onto the court clinging to a 1 1/2-pound hawk recruited for pregame ceremonies from Georgia Southern's Center for Wildlife Education. The bird flapped, but didn't peck. "That's a very disciplined bird," a relieved Wilkins said after returning the hawk — named Spirit — to its handler. "But I would not make a habit of [escorting] it."

John Manasso ofThe Atlanta Journal-Constitutionwrites: A home opener that started off promising for the Hawks ended in a dismal second-half offensive performance and their fourth straight loss to start the season.On a night when new ownership kicked off its first full season with a glitzy "restart" pregame show against a fellow winless opponent, the Cleveland Cavaliers rolled past the Hawks in the second half for a 93-79 win at Philips Arena. The Hawks scored less than half as many points in the second half (25) as they did in the first (54).