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KeyBank Five Keys: Cavaliers vs. Hornets

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Key: Saturday Night Fever

Following Friday night’s thumping of the ailing Heat at The Q, the Cavaliers will try to take both ends of a rare home-and-home back-to-back when they welcome Steve Clifford’s Hornets to Cleveland on Saturday.

On Friday, the Wine and Gold won their second straight contest by 30-plus points – 114-84 – and did so with two of their starters combining for only seven points, improving to 16-5 – the best mark in the Eastern Conference. Offensively, the Cavaliers shot 55 percent from the floor – improving to 10-0 when topping the 110-point plateau – and defensively, they held the Heat to just 34 percent shooting.

The Cavs will be looking for their second win this season against Charlotte after dropping the Hornets, 100-93, on November 13 at The Q. In that victory, Cleveland held Charlotte to 38 percent shooting, including 32 percent from long-range. The Cavaliers have won seven of the last eight over the Hornets, including five straight in Cleveland, where the Cavs have a 40-10 all-time record against Charlotte.

The Hornets have also won three straight and tonight’s matchup tips off their five-game road trip.

Key: Duel of Draft Classmates

The marquee matchup when these two teams square off is between both club’s high-octane point guards.

Kemba Walker, who was tabbed eight picks after Kyrie Irving in the 2011 NBA Draft, has been flying under the radar for some time now, despite being one of the East’s top point men for several years. He comes to Cleveland as Charlotte’s leading scorer at 23.3 ppg – having hit the second-most three-pointers in the East this season and is one of just two players (along with Steph Curry) to average at least 20 points and five assists while shooting better than 45 percent from the floor and 40 percent from long-range.

Walker’s also posted 17 games of at least 20 points this season – which is impressive, but still two less than Kyrie Irving – who did so for the 19th time this year when he dropped 23 points on Miami last night in Cleveland.

Other than LeBron James, the last Cavalier to post a longer streak was Brad Daugherty, who went for 13 straight back in 1991.

Key: History Class

As he does on an almost weekly basis, LeBron James made another historic leap in Friday night’s win – passing Elvin Hayes for ninth place among the NBA’s all-time scoring leaders and getting to within striking distance of Moses Malone at No. 8.

Against his old squad, James finished with 27 points on an efficient 12-for-22 shooting while leading both squads with eight assists and three steals.

With J.R. Smith on the shelf this week, LeBron has turned it up on the offensive end and has now topped the 25-point mark in each of his last four games – averaging 28.3 points on 55 percent shooting to go with 6.8 rebounds, 8.8 assists and 1.5 steals per.

He’ll square off primarily with Charlotte’s defensive-minded Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, nowhere near the offensive threat of James, but a consistent threat nonetheless. The second overall pick of the 2012 Draft recently posted six straight games of double-figure scoring and leads the Hornets in double-doubles this season with five.

Key: Mr. Do-It-All

It’s still unknown whether J.R. Smith will be able to go on Saturday night after missing most of the previous three games after hyperextending his left knee in the first quarter of Monday’s win over Toronto.

While he’s been on the mend, DeAndre Liggins – who made the Cavaliers out of Camp – has been rock-solid in relief. He’s not the offensive threat of Swish, but Tyronn Lue has loved his defensive intensity and timely shooting – and there’s little doubt he’s one of the reasons Cleveland has been holding teams to just .394 shooting over the course of their three-game run.

On Friday night, Liggs led both teams with three blocked shots and continued to pick his spots on the offensive end. Over the last three games, he’s shooting 71 percent from the floor, canning five of the seven shots he’s attempted.

Whether it’s Smith or Liggins on Saturday, they’ll have to be at their best against one of the most versatile players in the league – Nicolas Batum. The eight-year veteran is Charlotte’s second-leading scorer, their top rebounder and leading assist man and comes to Cleveland averaging 14.8 points, 11.5 rebounds and 7.3 helpers over his last four outings.

Key: Stretch-4 Battle

Kevin Love was listed as questionable (with back spasms) coming into Friday night’s contest against Miami. But the three-time All-Star gave it a go and all he did was lead both teams with 28 points and 15 boards.

Over Cleveland’s recent winning streak, Love is averaging 25.6 points and 11.0 boards per, posting his team-leading 14th double-double and his eighth 20-10 game of the season in Friday’s victory.

If Love – who doubled-up against Charlotte in the first meeting of the season with 17 points and 11 boards – is given the green light again on Saturday night, he’ll match up with Marvin Williams, who continues to climb up Charlotte’s all-time three-pointers list.

The 12-year vet, who’s enjoyed a career revival with the Hornets, has already canned five triples in a game this season and went off for 22 points on 8-for-11 shooting, including 4-for-6 from long-range against the Cavaliers in their final meeting of the season last April. He’s not the threat that Walker and Batum are offensively, but he’ll still test Cleveland on the perimeter all night.