The Cleveland Cavaliers continued their unbeaten streak with a 128-114 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday. This marks the 15th consecutive win for the Cavaliers, tying them with the 1993-94 Houston Rockets and 1948-49 Washington Capitols for the second-best start in NBA history.
LaMelo Ball led the Hornets with his eighth 30-point game of the season, scoring 31 points and achieving a season-high of 12 assists. Miles Bridges contributed 19 points, while Grant Williams, Brandon Miller, and Josh Green each added 15 points. This was only the second time this season that all five Charlotte starters scored in double figures.
Cleveland played without Donovan Mitchell but still saw strong performances from Darius Garland, Ty Jerome, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. Garland scored 25 points and recorded a season-high of 12 assists. Jerome tied his career high with 24 points and eight assists. Mobley added another double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds, while Allen contributed with a double-double as well—21 points and 15 rebounds.
The turning point came as Cleveland shot an impressive 67% from both inside the paint and beyond the arc in the first half, leading to a halftime score of 72-59. Although Charlotte managed to close within three points by the end of the third quarter after hitting nine out of thirteen from deep, they faltered in the fourth quarter going zero for ten from three-point range.
Charlotte's defense allowed Cleveland to take advantage at the free-throw line with twenty-eight attempts compared to Milwaukee's eleven attempts in their previous game. Hornets Head Coach Charles Lee acknowledged this lapse in discipline postgame.
Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen were instrumental inside for Cleveland, consistently drawing multiple defenders which either resulted in easy rim shots or open three-pointers. Despite starting Bridges and Williams down low being Charlotte’s best option currently, it proved challenging against Cleveland’s towering duo.
Vasilije Micić stepped up for Charlotte amid Tre Mann's absence due to lower back soreness. Micić scored nine points on three-of-four shooting from beyond the arc during his fourteen minutes on court earning praise from Coach Lee postgame.
"As the Cavs are building a lead," said Coach Lee postgame "I thought we had a couple moments where we’re getting some good looks... A lot goes through your head but [I] more so focus on all good stuff that helped us stay right there where we’re almost over hump."
Next up for Charlotte is an Emirates NBA Cup game against Brooklyn Nets scheduled Tuesday night at FanDuel Sports Network aiming towards securing their first regular-season head-to-head series winning streak since early last year spanning January twenty-first through February twenty-second two thousand eighteen.
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