--The Hawks got their first taste of the recently revamped Cavaliers, with point guard Mo Williams running the show Saturday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
But Hawks coach Mike Woodson didn't need to see them in person to know that they are vastly improved from the team he saw a year ago, a credit to the different look they get from the point guard they acquired in a trade this summer with Milwaukee. "So far he's been the threat they thought he'd be," Woodson said of Williams. "He's averaging almost 17 (16.7) points a game, the guy can score the ball and he can run a team. There's no doubt he's helped them. And now you can't sit defensively anymore on LeBron (James), because if you do, you have to take your chances scrambling to get to the right spots."
--It wasn't hard to spot the team playing on a back-to-back set Saturday night.
The Cavs ran circles around the Hawks early, starting with an 11-0 run out of the gate and then pushing that lead to as many as 18 points before the end of the first quarter.
The Hawks missed their first six shots, a preview of what turned out to be a 4-for-19 shooting effort in the first 12 minutes of a game that seemed all but over by then. The Hawks' 11 points in the quarter was a season low for any quarter.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because that's when you get to be a pig and nobody bothers complaining about you. It doesn't matter if you're a man, woman or a little kid even. You can eat like a hog on Thanksgiving and it's all good." -- Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson.
