Well, look who’s back? While his Cleveland Cavaliers continue to falter, dropping their eighth straight (2-12 in their last 14 games) in a 20-point loss at New Orleans last night, Kyrie Irving showed there’s nothing wrong with his mended shoulder, putting up 31 points and 6 assists in his return to NBA action after three weeks off.

It'll be the All-Star's first game at Philips Arena since putting up 29 points and 9 assists last March, although he had 7 turnovers in an overtime loss as the Cavs succumbed to Joe Johnson's clutch shots at the end of regulation and the extra frame. Irving’s 33 points against the Hawks on January 9 at home were more than enough to carry his crumbling Cavs to just their ninth win on the season, on a day where the Cavs learned Anderson Varejao was lost for the season.

In that game, Atlanta repeatedly failed to close out on three-point shooters, and Irving and Alonzo Gee responded with a combined 10-for-15 shooting performance beyond the arc. Subpar shooting from Al Horford (7-for-18), even poorer shooting from the Hawk bench (7-for-24), and wretched shot selection from Josh Smith (1-for-5 on threes) were enough to do themselves in. Shooting a franchise-low five free throw attempts and making two, airballing one, didn’t help matters either.

The good news for the Hawks is while Uncle Drew has picked up right where he left off, there’s not much he’s doing to stop opposing guards defensively. The Hornets’ Greivis Vasquez (25 points, 9 assists) and emerging rookie reserve Brian Roberts (15 points, 3 assists) combined to more than offset Irving’s production. A similar offensive effort from the trio of Jeff Teague, Devin Harris, and Shelvin Mack should be more than sufficient to render Kyrie’s heroics negligible. Teague must compel Irving to use up some of his energies on the defensive side of the floor.

Between comparisons to Michael Carter-Williams and Kevin Ware, Shaun Livingston must be tired of being name-dropped this past March Madness weekend. He’ll try to pick up the defensive slack in the Cavalier backcourt with Dion Waiters still unavailable (knee strain). With Irving out for the past few weeks, Livingston has also provided double-digit scoring in eight of his last nine games.

Tyler Zeller had his season-high of 10 defensive rebounds against the Hawks, and Coach Byron Scott would do well to involve his rookie starter in the offense some more. He’s shooting 50.9 FG% since the All-Star Break (41.9 FG%), but his post-break scoring is down since Cavalier guards aren’t finding the seven-footer while newcomer Marreese Speights (10.9 PPG as a Cavs reserve) and Tristan Thompson are calling their own numbers.

Thompson has averaged 12.3 RPG (5.0 offensive) in three games against Atlanta this season. Al Horford and Josh Smith have to continue banging in the paint and fighting for rebounds at both ends. Ivan Johnson, Mike Scott and Johan Petro have to remain mindful of the Cavalier bigs' presence whenever Irving drives to the hoop or long-range shooters (C.J. Miles, Wayne Ellington, Daniel Gibson) loft threes, and box out to eliminate second-chance points for Cleveland. As we learned in January, playing cavalierly won’t be enough to fend off the Cavaliers.

Go Hawks!

~lw3