The Cleveland Cavaliers produced arguably their best performance of the season on Wednesday as they easily beat the Boston Celtics on the road to take control of the number one spot in the Eastern Conference. 

Staying true to the Cavs' rollercoaster season, however, they followed that up with one of their worst displays of the year last night as they were blown out 114-100 at home by the Atlanta Hawks. 

Judging by the two lineups on show, a rout was certainly on the cards, but it didn't go the way many would've expected. 

The Cavaliers, in search of rhythm and consistency, decided to continue fielding their best players whilst the Hawks rested all five of their starters. 

Mike Budenholzer went with a starting five of Jose Calderon, Taurean Prince, Kris Humphries, Ersan Ilyasova and Tim Hardaway Jr.

After Atlanta beat Boston at home the previous night, a win here would've all but secured the number one seed for the Cavs but they failed miserably. 

Tyronn Lue's men seemed to have returned to their best after a four-game winning streak that culminated in the huge win over the Celtics, but this defeat highlights yet more problems.

It was a familiar face that caused problems for the Wine and Gold all night, as former player Mike Dunleavy dropped 20 points in just 19 minutes on 7-of-9 shooting. The three-point shooter was part of the trade that sent Kyle Korver to Ohio earlier in the campaign.

"I just know we didn't respect those guys," Lue said. "Dunleavy comes off the bench and scores 20 points. We know what he does, he shoots the basketball. We're late getting to him, late chasing him off screens. Late on a lot of screens. They came in, they played hard and they beat us."

LeBron James lamented his team's lack of energy and had no reason for it.

"As a group, our energy was very low. I have no idea why, but it was just low," James said.

Hardaway Jr., scored 15 of his 22 in the fourth for the Hawks and Kevin Love didn't hold back on explaining what the loss meant for Cleveland.

"We needed it tonight," said Kevin Love. "It was a huge, huge game for us, and we lost. That's the most frustrating, most disturbing and it sucks."

The Hawks have now beaten Cleveland twice at Quicken Loans Arena this year and host the champions on their home floor on Sunday evening.