Key: Home Sweet Home
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After a tough stretch in which they played five of their last six on the road, the Wine & Gold return to Cleveland, where they’ll play the next three heading into Christmas – beginning with a Wednesday night visit by the suddenly-hot Charlotte Hornets.
The Cavaliers dropped their second straight on Monday night in Toronto, falling behind by double-digits early and struggling to gain ground from there. Cleveland wasn’t bad in that loss – shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor, drilling a dozen threes and handing out 30 assists. But transition defense was an issue again – with the Cavs getting outrun on the break, 29-4, en route to their 16th loss in the last 18 outings.
The Hornets have turned things around over the past couple weeks – winning four of their last five after scuffling through the early part of the season. Charlotte is coming off a convincing home win over Sacramento, with Malik Monk and Marvin Williams combining for 39 points off the bench, helping James Borrego’s squad work itself into the bottom half of the Eastern Conference postseason mix.
The Cavaliers have had Charlotte’s number over the years – winning 25 of the last 30 home meetings against the Hornets, including an 8-1 mark over their last nine visits.
Key: Shooting Stars
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The field is crowded, but right now Charlotte’s Devonte Graham might just have the inside track on the league’s Most Improved Player award.
The sophomore guard from Kansas – taken with the fourth pick of the second round in 2018 – averaged less than five points (4.7ppg) in his rookie campaign. This year, he leads the Hornets in scoring (19.4).
Graham got off to strong start to the season and hasn’t looked back – notching two of his nine 20-point efforts in the first two contests. Since then, he’s posted a pair of 30-point games and went off for 40 in a road win over Brooklyn last week. He’s also handed out double-digit assists in four games and leads Charlotte with a 7.4apg average – good for 8th in the NBA.
On Wednesday night, he and his equally-explosive backcourt partner – local product, Terry Rozier – will tangle with the Wine & Gold’s young backcourt duo, each of whom is coming off a strong showing against Toronto.
In Monday’s loss, Collin Sexton rebounded from a subpar offensive showing in Milwaukee to pace Cleveland with 25 points on 10-for-16 shooting from the floor and 5-of-6 from the stripe, adding five boards and four assists.
Darius Garland – who handed out five assists in each game of the Cavs’ recent three-game trip – notched 20 points, going an even 7-for-14 from the floor, including 4-of-8 from deep, adding a pair of steals in the loss.
Key: Middle Management
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The Hornets don’t have a dominant frontline, but that group’s been pretty solid this season – especially over their last few outings.
In last night’s win over the Kings, Charlotte dominated on the glass – outrebounding Sacramento, 51-33, led by Bismack Biyombo, who tallied 10 points and 12 boards for his third double-double in his last three outings. Malik Monk, who doubled-up off the bench – added 10 rebounds to go with his 23 points, netting 14 of those in the fourth quarter.
Seventh-year man Cody Zeller was also solid in the win, finishing with 17 points, nine boards, four assists and a pair of blocks. Zeller, who’s having easily his best year as a pro, had grabbed double-digit boards in three of his previous four contests and has already netted seven double-doubles on the season.
Biyombo will lock horns with Tristan Thompson, who was solid in his Toronto homecoming, finishing with 18 points on 9-of-14 shooting, adding eight boards and three assists. The Wine and Gold’s unquestioned leader needs just seven offensive rebounds to join Zydrunas Ilgauskas as the only Cavaliers in team history to total 2,000 for their career.
Zeller will draw Kevin Love, who started out Cleveland’s recent roadie with a bang – going off for 30 points, including the game-tying triple last week in a thrilling win over the Spurs. Love doubled-up for the 11th time this season in his next outing against Milwaukee (12pts, 10reb) before posting nine points and seven boards in the Cavs’ Monday night loss north of the border.