The new look Cleveland Cavaliers took the floor in Atlanta on Friday night. Well, kind of: Cleveland doesn’t have any of players it acquired at the NBA’s trade deadline with them right now, meaning the Cavaliers had to play against the Hawks with a depleted roster that had five guys on the bench, two of them being two-way players making a cameo.
The team’s starting five looked a little different, too, as it was comprised of Jose Calderon, J.R. Smith, Cedi Osman, LeBron James, and Tristan Thompson. That is almost certainly not going to be the team’s starting five once the postseason rolls around, but it was a way to get through the evening.
It was a good evening for the most part, as the Cavs beat the lowly Hawks, 123-107. There was one rather interesting moment that came from a chorus of Atlanta fans, who wanted to try and get in Thompson’s head as he was shooting free throws. A handful of the Hawks faithful were heard doing a “LeBron will leave you” chant during the game’s first quarter.
Hawks fans chanting: “LeBron will leave you,” as Tristan Thompson misses two free throws 😬 pic.twitter.com/p9NAaxwrl4
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 10, 2018
While it does not sound like it was a massive group of fans, they were loud enough to be picked up by the television cameras. That wasn’t their only chant on the evening: Jeff Green got some trash talk from Atlanta fans, too.
Hawks cheering section in Friday night form for this one. One set of Tristan Thompson free throws they chant: "LeBron will leave you!" Next time down for Jeff Green free throws it was: "LeBron will trade you!"
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 10, 2018
James’ free agency is hanging over the organization, and was arguably one of the biggest reasons why they decided to blow it all up at the deadline. Sadly for Hawks fans, this didn’t work especially well: In addition to Cleveland’s win, James had 22 points, 17 assists, and 12 rebounds on the evening.