Cavaliers cruise to tenth straight win stopping Hornets 115-105

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - The Cleveland Cavaliers (31-4) returned home on Sunday night from a 4-0 West Coast trip which is no easy feat in the NBA. They welcomed the Charlotte Hornets (7-27) to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. It was the third meeting of the two teams this season, the Cavs had won the first two. They made it three in a row over the Hornets and ran their win streak to 10 with a 115-105 win.

The Cavs got off to a 9-2 lead early capped off by a layup by Jarrett Allen when Donovan Mitchell hit him in the paint with 9:59 left in the opening quarter. The Hornets then went on a run and closed the Cavs lead to one point at 14-13 with 6:44 left on a fast break by Cody Martin. Then with 5:44 left the Hornets took the lead 18-16 on a three by Brandon Miller. The Cavs regained the lead 20-18 with 3:31 left when Darius Garland dropped in a layup. The Cavs outscored the Hornets 11-5 in the last 3:31 of the quarter to take a 29-23 lead into the second quarter. Charlotte’s Miller led all scorers with eight first quarter points. Garland led the Cavs with seven points in the first 12 minutes. The Cavs shot 50% (13 of 26) in the first quarter, while the Hornets shot 44% (10 of 23).

The Cavs extended the lead even further in the early minutes of the second quarter with a barrage of threes to take a 45-28 lead with 6:57 left in the second quarter on their fourth three in just over five minutes, this time from Ty Jerome. With 5:37 left the Cavs lead ballooned to 23 at 52-29 when Jerome hit another three. The two teams continued to trade baskets until the Hornets went on a slight run and cut the Cavs lead to 63-45 with :39.1 left when LaMelo Ball hit two free throws after being fouled by Mitchell. With :09.9 left Garland fouled Ball, and the Hornets cut the lead to 63-48, the concern was that Garland picked up his third foul. The score did not change and was the same at the halftime break. Allen and Ball led all scorers with 15 points apiece. The Cavs shot 49% (15 of 31) from the field in the opening half while the Hornets shot 38% (16 of 42). The Cavs shot 8 of 24 (33%) from three-point range and 5 of 11 (45%) in the second quarter. The Hornets meanwhile shot 7 of 22 (32%) from long range. The boards were even with both teams pulling down 24. Turnovers were a problem for the Hornets as they turned it over nine times resulting in 12 Cavs points. While the Cavs turned it over four times resulting in just two Charlotte points.

The Cavs took an 84-66 lead with 4:51 left in the third quarter on a three pointer by Georges Niang and then took an 87-66 lead with 4:02 left when Garland hit a three from in front of the Hornets bench. The Hornets then went on a 12-4 run to end the third quarter and cut the lead to 91-78. Miller was leading all scorers with 24 points. Garland led the Cavs with 21 points.

The Cavs’ lead expanded to 101-84 with 8:03 left when Mitchell hit a jumper in the paint. The middle part of the fourth quarter the Cavs did what they had been doing most of the season and they pulled away from Charlotte taking a 112-92 with 4:31 left when Niang hit a jumper on an assist from Jerome. When Caris LeVert dished out his sixth assist of the game, he reached 2,000 in his career and got a nice ovation from the sellout crowd. As time ran out the Cavs were victorious for the tenth time in a row and every win has been by ten points or more as the final score was 115-105. The Cavs became the eighth team in NBA history to start a season 31-4.

Garland led all scorers with 25 points. Ball and Miller led the Hornets with 24 points each in the losing effort. Mitchell and Allen each scored 14 for the Cavs and Allen notched his 20th double double as he pulled down 11 rebounds. LeVert led the Cavs with six assists.

The Cavs shot 48% (44 of 92) from the field and Charlotte shot 42% (38 of 91). The Hornets shot just a bit better than the Cavs from three-point range outshooting Cleveland 36% to 35%. The Cavs also shot 75% (12 of 16) from the free throw line, while Charlotte shot 74% (14 of 19). The Cavs also won the battle in the paint outscoring the Hornets 48-38, but the Hornets outrebounded the Cavs 48-41.

The Cavs are now leading the Eastern Conference by 5.5 games over the second place Boston Celtics and 7.5 games ahead of the New York Knicks.

The Cavs will be in action next on Wednesday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder (30-5) for a best record in the NBA matchup, gametime is 7 p.m. The Thunder leads the all-time series 71-52 (including their years as the Seattle Supersonics), but the Cavs do lead the series at home (Cleveland Arena, Richfield Coliseum, RMFH) 34-27.