Okongwu's season-high 29 points push Hawks past Cavaliers, 114-111

Onyeka Okongwu scored a season-high 29 points and pulled down 12 rebounds on Thursday night as the Atlanta Hawks held off the Cleveland Cavaliers, 114-111, at State Farm Arena, snapping a three-game losing streak in the process. The result, recorded in the NBA's official game log, moved Atlanta to 3-3 on the young season and dropped Cleveland, which had won three straight, to 3-2.

Okongwu went 11-for-17 from the field, including four 3-pointers, for the Hawks. Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 25 points on 8-for-17 shooting, and Aaron Wiggins came off the bench to score a season-high 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting, with seven rebounds. Jalen Johnson, last season's All-NBA Third Team forward, finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and center Jock Landale added 10 rebounds. For Cleveland, James Harden led all scorers with a season-high 24 points, Donovan Mitchell added 22, Sam Merrill scored 16 off the bench on 4-for-8 shooting from 3-point range, and Jarrett Allen contributed 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, with Evan Mobley chipping in 11 points and seven assists, according to the box score posted on NBA.com and corroborated by ESPN's game recap.

A slow start, then a third-quarter surge

Cleveland came out hot, shooting past a cold-starting Atlanta team to lead 28-16 after a first quarter in which the Hawks made just 23.8 percent of their shots, their worst mark of any period this season. Atlanta answered by winning the second quarter 30-16 to grab a 46-44 lead at halftime, then kept the pressure on in the third, outscoring Cleveland 43-38 to take an 89-82 edge into the fourth. Cleveland closed the final period on a 29-25 run that trimmed the deficit to three points by the final horn. It marked the fourth consecutive game in which Atlanta had trailed by double digits at some point, a pattern the Hawks have now overcome in back-to-back contests.

Cleveland would not go away quietly in the closing minutes. Mitchell's driving basket with 20.6 seconds remaining cut Atlanta's lead to one point. Alexander-Walker answered by sinking two free throws with 15.3 seconds left to push the margin back to three, and Atlanta's defense closed the door when Mitchell missed two potential tying 3-point attempts on Cleveland's final possession.

Bench depth proves decisive

Atlanta's reserves were a major factor in the win, led by Wiggins' season-high scoring night. Wiggins joined the Hawks in a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder finalized in early July, after first being reported in late June, with Atlanta sending two future second-round picks to Oklahoma City in exchange for the wing, who had been part of the Thunder's 2025 championship roster. Rookie guard Kingston Flemings, whom Atlanta selected eighth overall in the 2026 draft, also logged minutes in the rotation, while Landale's double-digit rebounding effort gave the Hawks extra possessions inside. Cleveland's bench got a lift of its own from Merrill's four made 3-pointers, though it was not enough to offset Atlanta's depth advantage on this night.

Defense also played a role in Atlanta's comeback. Guard Dyson Daniels, who spent much of the night guarding Mitchell, finished with fewer than 10 points for the third straight game but added six rebounds and five assists, a trade-off the Hawks have generally accepted given his defensive value. Entering this season, projections had been modest for Atlanta: one preseason outlook from ESPN pegged the Hawks for roughly 43 to 44 wins and a sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, numbers that would represent a step forward from a team eliminated in the first round of last season's playoffs. A 3-3 start that includes a win over a Cleveland team that had been playing well is, at minimum, consistent with that trajectory, though six games is a small sample this early in the schedule.

Reshaped rosters on both sides

The matchup featured two backcourts remade by trades within the past year. Atlanta dealt longtime franchise point guard Trae Young to the Washington Wizards in January in exchange for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert, a deal that erased Young's $49 million player option from Atlanta's books and brought in McCollum's expiring $31 million salary, ending Young's seven-plus seasons as the face of the franchise. McCollum went on to average 19.2 points as Atlanta lost to the New York Knicks in six games in last season's first round, then re-signed with the Hawks on a one-year, $21 million extension with a trade kicker last June. He started at guard again Thursday but had a difficult night, shooting 1-for-8.

Cleveland, meanwhile, acquired Harden from the Los Angeles Clippers in a deal finalized on February 3, sending Darius Garland and a second-round pick to Los Angeles, a swap reported at the time by multiple outlets citing ESPN and The Athletic; because of trade-approval language in his contract, Harden himself had to sign off on the move before it could be completed. Harden, who turned 36 in August, has been one of the Cavaliers' most efficient scorers through the season's opening weeks and continued that form against Atlanta, though it was not enough to overcome Okongwu's night.

Okongwu, Atlanta's sixth overall pick in the 2020 draft out of USC, has emerged as a focal point of the Hawks' revamped frontcourt alongside Johnson, who is in the second season of the five-year, $150 million extension he signed with Atlanta in October 2024 after a breakout 2025-26 campaign that included an All-Star selection and a spot on the All-NBA Third Team. Alexander-Walker joined Atlanta over the summer via sign-and-trade from Minnesota, rounding out a backcourt and wing rotation that looks almost nothing like the one that took the floor for the Hawks a year ago.

What's next

Both teams were playing the second game of a back-to-back; Atlanta had lost to Miami the previous night, while Cleveland had beaten Washington. The two clubs now turn to their next assignments: Cleveland travels to face Milwaukee, and Atlanta heads to New Orleans to play the Pelicans on Saturday, October 31, according to the Hawks' schedule listed on NBA.com.