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Wrap-Up -- During the early parts of the current campaign, the Wine & Gold have taken some heat for their defense. But it was that defense that got Cleveland its seventh straight win on Friday night.
After J.R. Smith canned his second free throw to give the Cavaliers a one-point lead with 48 seconds to play – and following a LeBron James’ miss on the next possession – Tyronn Lue’s squad got one of the biggest stops of the young season, forcing a bad shot from Jeremy Lamb and a desperation heave by Kemba Walker, holding on for the 100-99 win at The Q.
Overall, the Cavs outscored Charlotte, 9-1, in the final 3:38 – holding the Hornets to 5-for-23 shooting in the fourth period and 0-of-8 to close the game.
With Friday’s win, the Cavaliers have now topped the Hornets twice already this season, part of eight straight wins and 12 of their last 13 against Charlotte. Cleveland extended its NBA-best streak to seven games – with their last loss coming back on November 9 in Houston.
LeBron continued his early-season MVP charge, notching his second triple-double of the year, finishing with 27 points, 16 boards, 13 assists and three blocks – all game-highs. On the evening, the 13-time All-Star went an even 10-of-20 from the floor, including 3-of-8 from long-range.
J.R. Smith followed up with 16 points – going 3-of-9 from beyond the arc, 6-for-13 overall, adding a game-high three steals in the win.
Kyle Korver added 13 points off the bench, canning three triples of his own. Dwyane Wade pitched in with 10 points, a pair of boards and two steals – also leading the Wine & Gold with a +14 mark in 24 minutes of action.
Kevin Love doubled-up for the second time against Charlotte and for the 13th time this season, finishing with 11 points and 13 boards while dueling with Dwight Howard all night.
LBJ leads leads six Cavs double-figure scorers.
Jae Crowder notched his third straight game of double-digit scoring, chipping in with 12 points – all in the first half – on 5-for-11 shooting.
Neither team shot particularly well, especially in the final period when both squads were a combined 0-for-16 from long-range. But the Cavaliers were able to hit one more field goal – plus J.R.’s second free throw – to run their win streak to seven.
Turning Point -- The Cavaliers went into the fourth quarter with a one-point edge, 83-82, but the Hornets got off to a strong start to the period and jumped out to a five-point advantage, 98-93, with 3:22 to go.
At that point, the Wine & Gold’s defense (and LeBron James) took over. The Hornets didn’t sink a single field goal the rest of the way and James notched six of Cleveland’s final seven points to seal the deal.
By the Numbers – 18.6, 10.4 … Kevin Love’s scoring and rebounding averages over the course of Cleveland’s seven-game win streak – shooting an even 50 percent from the floor and 92 percent from the stripe over that span.
Quotable – Kevin Love, on Cleveland’s defensive effort on Friday night …
”We forced them into tough shots. That’s a team that can get extra possessions, tip the ball out and even when we tried to foul (Dwight) Howard in there he got to the free throw line and knocked his free throws down. So they were coming at us in all different ways, but we felt like we locked in on all our different rotations and contested a lot of shots, whether it was at the rim or on the perimeter. So we did a great job on that.”
Up Next -- Following Friday’s hard-fought win over the Hornets, the Wine & Gold hit the road, traveling to Philly for the first time this season, taking on Joel Embiid and the Sixers on Monday night. They return to play their first back-to-back in over a month, welcoming the Heat to Cleveland the following night. The Cavs close out the month of November on Thursday night in Atlanta and tip off December two nights later when they host the Grizzlies on Saturday night at The Q.