Okongwu's Late Putback Lifts Hawks Past Cavaliers 114-111

Nickeil Alexander-Walker's 23-foot 3-pointer missed with 30.5 seconds left Thursday night at State Farm Arena, and Onyeka Okongwu came down with the rebound. He put it back in at the 28.2-second mark for a 112-109 lead, and the Atlanta Hawks held on to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-111.

Okongwu finished with 29 points and 12 rebounds on 11-of-17 shooting, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range. That offensive rebound in the final minute was his fifth of the night.

"I'll just try to go up, get the ball," Okongwu said. "If it comes off, put it back up."

Atlanta (3-3) ended a three-game losing streak that included a 120-110 loss at Houston on Monday and a 129-117 home loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday. Cleveland fell to 3-2. Both teams were on the second night of a back-to-back.

The Cavaliers made 11 of their first 22 shots and led 28-16 after one. James Harden had 9 points in the period. Sam Merrill hit two 3-pointers 39 seconds apart.

Atlanta went 5-of-20 from the field in the first quarter and turned it over four times. Donovan Mitchell's free throw with 10:31 left in the second made it 31-16, Cleveland's largest lead.

Missed shots can carry into the rest of a player's game, Hawks coach Quin Snyder said, and his question for his team was how else to contribute while the ball was not going in.

"I think particularly when we were doing some good things offensively, I think our hearts and minds were in the right place, but a few plays we couldn't complete," Snyder said. "That's been a challenge for us when things, sometimes missing shots, whatever the case is, adversity on the offensive end. It's harder to defend when you're not scoring because they're running at you. But even beyond that, you have to be mentally tough to dig in defensively.

"We hung in there with that, and then the offense eventually started," Snyder continued. "We kind of settled in. That dynamic, I think, was a really, really important one in the game. Happy to see that's growth for us and really important growth."

Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson was called for a technical foul with 6:54 left in the half. Jalen Johnson made the free throw to cut it to 35-27.

Evan Mobley's turnaround jumper put Cleveland ahead 37-30 with 5:25 left in the second quarter. The Hawks scored the next 13 points.

Okongwu started it with a cutting layup and a free throw. Dyson Daniels scored on a fast-break layup, and Okongwu tied it 37-37 at the 4:33 mark with another one after a CJ McCollum steal. McCollum's 6-foot floater with 3:12 left gave Atlanta its first lead at 39-37.

It was the only lead change of the game. Johnson and Alexander-Walker each added layups, and the Hawks led 46-44 at halftime after outscoring Cleveland 30-16 in the quarter.

Twenty-seven seconds into the second half, Okongwu hit a 27-footer. His 25-footer at 10:02 made it 57-46.

He had 14 points in the third quarter on 5-of-6 shooting. Alexander-Walker added 13 on 4-of-5. Atlanta shot 15-of-23 in the period and scored 43, with Harden scoring 9 for Cleveland. Jarrett Allen's 3-pointer with 1:21 left got the Cavaliers within 83-82, and Alexander-Walker answered with a transition 3-pointer at the 20.1-second mark for an 89-82 lead after three.

Aaron Wiggins' 3-pointer with 9:08 left made it 97-86. Cleveland kept coming. Harden's three-point play at 1:45 cut it to 108-104, and Mitchell made all three free throws after Okongwu fouled him on a 3-point attempt with 43.2 seconds left, pulling the Cavaliers within 110-109.

After the putback, Mitchell scored on a driving finger roll with 20.6 seconds to go. Merrill committed two take fouls, and Alexander-Walker made both free throws after the second one at the 15.3-second mark. Mitchell missed a 26-foot pull-up, got his own rebound, and missed again from 23 feet before the horn.

Alexander-Walker scored 25 points on 8-of-17 shooting and went 5-of-5 at the line. Wiggins came off the bench for 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists. Johnson finished with 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists, and McCollum had 8 assists.

The Hawks had 34 assists on 42 field goals and went 17-of-43 from 3-point range. They outscored Cleveland 15-4 in fast-break points and 16-13 in second-chance points.

Harden led the Cavaliers with 24 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists on 7-of-14 shooting. Mitchell scored 22 on 7-of-19, going 1-of-9 from 3-point range and 7-of-8 at the line. Merrill added 16, Allen had 14 points and 8 rebounds, and Mobley had 11 points and 7 assists. Cleveland shot 13-of-42 from 3-point range.

Mouhamed Gueye (left foot fracture) and Henri Veesaar (right knee ACL tear) were inactive for Atlanta, along with RayJ Dennis, Keshon Gilbert, and Jalen Wilson on two-way G League assignments.

The announced crowd was 15,025. Tip-off was moved to 8 p.m. ET so the Atlanta Dream could host Game 6 of the WNBA Finals in the building that afternoon.

The Hawks visit the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. Cleveland plays at Milwaukee at 8 p.m. ET the same night.