The Atlanta Hawks had their worst performance of the season last night in the loss to the Miami Heat .
Miami scored 70 points in the paint and won the rebounding battle against the Hawks by 12. The stat that won the Heat the game though, was that they shot 57% on non-rim two-point shots while Atlanta shot 22%.
Not only that, but I was only 1-for-3 in my bold predictions for the game. I predicted for Jalen Johnson to have a triple double, Kingston Flemings to score 15+ points, and for Atlanta to hit at least 20 three-point shots. Flemings had his best game of the season, scoring 23 points, and while Johnson came close to a triple-double and Atlanta hit 16 threes, they were both misses.
So what will go down in tonight's game?
The Cavaliers have some good defensive personnel, such as Evan Mobley and Peyton Watson, but they have been below average on that end of the court to start the season.
Cleveland is 20th in PPG allowed, 17th in FG% allowed, 17th in points allowed per 100 possessions, and 17th in effective field goal percentage allowed.
Atlanta has been slowed on the offensive end over the past few games, but I think some shooting regression is bound to come their way and that they will find a way to take advantage of lesser defenders on the Cavaliers, such as James Harden and Donovan Mitchell.
Daniels has had a struggle in the last few games on offense, but he still remains one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA. Daniels is almost certainly going to guard Donovan Mitchell tonight and he will have the task of trying to limit one of the leagues best scorers.
Mitchell's season low in points this season is 19 and I think that Daniels is going to keep him to a lower total than that tonight.
After setting a career-high in points last night against the Heat, I think that Flemings is going to continue his strong play and have another big night off the bench tonight.
Flemings not only scored 23 points, but he did so efficiently, shooting 9-for-12 from the field and 3-for-5 from three while also handing out five assists and grabbing five rebounds.
After an up and down first few games, Flemings broke out in a big way last night and I don't think it was a fluke.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/hawks/onsi as Three Bold Predictions For Tonight's Hawks-Cavaliers Matchup .
