Coming off a thrilling road win in Detroit to avoid being eliminated from postseason contention, the Charlotte Hornets now head to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers, which gets underway tonight starting at 7 p.m. ET.
Charlotte holds a 2-1 season-series lead over the Cavaliers, with the home team going undefeated so far. The Hornets took the most recent meeting on Dec. 19, 110-99, thanks to a 30-point showing from Kemba Walker and 18 points apiece from Marvin Williams and Jeremy Lamb. Cleveland got 20 bench points from Jordan Clarkson, although was outscored in the second half, 69-53.
Walker has continued to play a major role in the team’s late-season surge, posting averages of 34.8 PPG on 50.0% shooting, 3.3 3PM on 40.6% shooting, 5.5 RPG and 6.3 APG over his last four games. Walker also leads the NBA in fourth-quarter scoring during this stretch (13.0 PPG) and recently became just the ninth player in league history to tally 250+ 3PM in a single campaign.
Meanwhile, Cleveland’s reigning first-round pick, Collin Sexton, has made big strides over the last month after a rough start to his rookie season. The 20-year-old point guard is averaging 23.4 PPG on 51.6% shooting (45.9% from 3P) and 3.0 APG in 16 games since March 6 and on the year, ranks third amongst all first-year players in scoring (16.7 PPG; trails Luka Dončić and Trae Young).
Despite the impressive offensive metrics, Sexton owns the second-worst defensive real plus-minus in the NBA (-4.46; 511th out of 512 qualified players). Walker and the Charlotte guards need to be aggressive from the start in attacking the young University of Alabama product if they want to close their road trip with a season-high-tying fourth straight victory.
Game Notes – The Hornets sit 1.0 GB of Detroit for eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings. They need to win out and hope the Pistons lose to either Memphis tonight or at New York tomorrow… Cleveland has lost nine straight games and 12 of its last 14 overall… Charlotte has not won three consecutive road appearances in the same season since Jan. 2-15, 2018 (won last two).
Classic Fact – Brevin Knight tallied a single-game franchise-record 20 assists in Cleveland on Jan. 11, 2005. Knight and Muggsy Bogues (3X) co-owned the previous record of 19 assists, which was first accomplished by the latter on April 23, 1989 in Boston.