Cleveland Cavaliers/Atlanta Hawks Game Review: 29 is one less than 30

Mario West and Jason Collins scored double digits.

Not together, mind you---each.

Randolph Morris fouled out in (16) minutes.

The J. Smith who is listed as a starter in the box score is Joe Smith, not Josh---and he had a double-double.

Maybe the most interesting thing to come out of the Hawks 99-83 win over the Cavs last night was the extended playing time for Jeff Teague who scored (24) points and dished out (15) assists.

More after the jump

Game Over When: We could be cute and say "when LeBron sat" but the Hawks sat their top (5) players to match LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal, and Mo Williams for the Cavs. The game was in control for the Hawks early on, but they put it away behind a 29-14 third quarter.

Worth Noting. Teague pitched a complete game---meaning he played all (48) minutes.

Also: Even with all of the bench playing, the Hawks still managed to distribute the scoring evenly, getting (7) players into double digits, even the aforemention Jason Collins (10 points).

We saw it:

The Cavs went to the line to take (36) shots---and made only (20). G-ross.

It said 2:15 was the length of the game, but all the fouls and sloppy play (34 turnovers between the two teams) made it seem like (4) hours. There are long games and there are games that seem like you are watching a Tearjerker Marathon.

Marvin Williams played (27) minutes and seemed just as out of place as when he plays with the other (5) guys. I can't explain what's happened to him this season--he has lost his grasp on his role--really hope he gets that back.

Zaza was balling (more on him later), putting (13) and (7) on the board even as the Cavs played some fairly heavy hitters out there (Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejao, J.J. Hickson).

But the player of the night was Teague, who most were watching (ok, we were interested in what 30+ minutes for Mario West would bring also) to see what he would do with extended minutes. There were times when he got into a place where there was no escape and he turned it over (5 times)---but he made plenty of plays with Delonte West playing him defensively. (15) assists in an NBA game will be hard for him to overtake for a while--but he has to feel some confidence that he can play at that level.

Mario West was fun to watch in a game that, while I know it didn't mean anything for real, I still didn't want to see the team lose. West played---dare I say it---under control for the majority of his (32) minutes. He was like a fastball pitcher who has trouble controlling his fastball when he comes out of the pen firing away at 100+ MPH, but seems to locate it better when he brings it down to the high 90's. West had a particularly satisfying dunk over Jamario Moon. Gotcha!

We can't believe we saw it:

Zaza made a move in the post where he did a ball fake (yes, we said it, ball fake) and spun to the hoop, leaving the Cav who had been guarding him blushing. Zaza finished with a flush to punctuate the excellence. But that's not what we couldn't believe. On a dead ball after a foul, Zaza casually flipped the ball over his shoulder, into the air towards the basket. The ball banked off the glass and through the hoop. Now, I know that pros tackle that kind of tom-foolery all the time, but this was from a guy you wouldn't expect and it was money. The end.

Highlights: