Recap: Cavaliers 95, Hornets 90

The Cleveland Cavaliers came into Saturday night’s game against the Charlotte Hornets in a bit of an odd place as a team. They lead the Eastern Conference with an 11-4 record, but had a team meeting after a loss to the Toronto Raptors Wednesday night. They had the third-best point differential in the NBA despite missing several key players, but were criticized for letting teams stay in games longer than they should. With Timofey Mozgov and Matthew Dellavedova returning from injury, the team hoped to get back on the winning track and return to .500 on the road. Doing so would be no small task, as the Cavaliers were facing a Hornets team that had won four in a row and was 7-1 at home.

First Quarter

Marvin Williams immediately sank a corner three, which the Hornets have been doing well so far this season. Cavs countered by getting Mozgov going early against Jefferson, a notoriously poor defender, and Timo had four points quick points in the first minute of the game. Cavs continued to attack down low, but weren’t able to convert. Both teams were scoreless after the first minute until Mozgov dunked off a quick pass from Mo Williams to give him the Cavaliers’ first six points. From there both teams traded baskets for a bit until the Cavaliers called time out with Charlotte leading 13-12 with just over five minutes left in the first quarter as the Cavaliers’ defense left a lot to be desired in terms of allowing Charlotte second chance opportunities. After the timeout Mo Williams had a pair of unforced turnovers and was promptly replaced by Matthew Dellavedova. It should also be noted that a scoreless LeBron James was also replaced by Richard Jefferson. The game stayed close, but a pair of free throws by Richard Jefferson and an offensive foul on Cody Zeller gave the Cavaliers a 23-22 lead after one. Both teams shot just 36.4% for the quarter and were a combined 1 for 11 from three.

Second Quarter

The Cavs aggressively attacked the basket early and got into the bonus with 10:38 left in the second quarter. Unfortunately the Cavaliers also stopped playing defense for a bit and were not able to use the bonus to their advantage and the game stayed close. LeBron wasn’t moving the ball and Richard Jefferson missed three of his first four free throw attempts and was also torched by Jeremy Lamb several times. The Cavaliers were able to take a six point lead by exploiting Mozgov and Love’s advantages against Al Jefferson and Marvin Williams, respectively. The Hornets then came right back behind some impressive ball movement. Kemba Walker then pump-faked Matthew Dellavedova into a three-point foul as time expired. He then sank all three free throws to give the Hornets a 52-50 lead at the half. The Cavaliers outrebounded the Hornets 28-20 in the first half, but Charlotte held a 14-6 advantage in assists.

Third Quarter

The Cavaliers continued to be a half-step slow on both end of the floor and the Hornets jumped out to a 61-54 lead after three minutes. Much of this was due to some terrible turnovers by Mo Williams and Kevin Love, as well as J.R. Smith fouling Nic Batum on a three-point shot. After a time out LeBron scored a quick layup, but a pair of fouls by Mo Williams and J.R. Smith as well as a three by Batum gave the Horntets a 64-56 lead. LeBron hit a pair of threes to bring the Cavaliers within four, but Al Jefferson split a pair of three throws to make it 67-62 Hornets. Jefferson, Batum, and Kemba Walker continued to heat up and Charlotte played solid interior defense to keep Charlotte ahead. Fortunately the Cavaliers have LeBron Raymone James on their team and he almost singlehandedly kept the game close. Defensively the Cavaliers contested shots, but let the Hornets get wherever they wanted on the court on offense, giving the Hornets shots they were comfortable with and they were shooting 47% by the end of the quarter. The Cavaliers also continued to hold the ball. Despite all of this, the Cavaliers only trailed by four as the Hornets led 76-72.

Fourth Quarter

David Blatt went with a lineup of Williams, Dellavedova, Jefferson, and Thompson early in the fourth quarter, and it simply couldn’t guard anyone. The Hornets began to pull away with an 82-75 lead. James and Smith returned, and cut the lead to 82-79, but the ball continued to stick. The Cavaliers turned the ball over after Charlotte scored LeBron split a pair of free throws followed by a Thompson basket and a Delly Trey to give the Cavaliers a brief 85-84 lead. Both teams then traded baskets before the Cavaliers got some stops and took an 89-86 lead. After a Charlotte time out, Kemba Walker missed a point blank bunny and LeBron James as called for a phantom offensive foul on Marvin Williams.  A bit of a brick fest ensued, until Walker hit a jab-step two over LeBron. J.R. Smith responded with a three to make 92-88. After a travel call by LeBron was overturned both teams upped their defensive intensity. A video replay then determined an out-of-bounds ball was on Matthew Dellavedova and Jeremy Lamb scored to pull Charlotte to within 92-90. After LeBron was fouled on a drive but did not receive a call, the Cavaliers didn’t score out of the time out and Tristan Thompson was held while going for the offensive rebound. Charlotte called time out with 24.9 seconds left in the game and 13 seconds left on the shot clock. Nic Batum missed a three out of the time out and the Cavaliers played hot potato until J.R. Smith was sent to the line. Smith made both freebies to give the Cavaliers a 94-90 lead with 12.9 seconds left. Deja vu’ then occurred as Batum missed a three and LeBron was fouled. James split the pair and gave the Cavaliers a five point lead with 9.2 seconds left. The Cavaliers then forced a five second violation on the Hornets inbound. The Cavaliers then turned the ball over, but the Hornets weren’t able to score and the Wine and Gold emerged victorious 95-90 after holding Charlotte to just 14 points in the fourth quarter.

A Few Observations

LeBron James has been very demanding of his teammates this season, and has mostly been lauded for it. While it’s great to see that James is so focused, he has to be careful that he doesn’t wear the rest of the team down mentally. At times tonight James seemed unwilling to pass to his teammates and they seemed terrified of failing him. As Brian Windhorst has pointed out, this may be due to LeBron wanting to make sure the Cavaliers are able to compete with the Warriors, but he has to be careful that he’s not doing more harm than good.

As the season has gone on, there has been an increasing amount of debate regarding who will back up Kyrie Irving when he returns from injury. Mo Williams has started whenever he has been healthy, but more and more it’s looking like Matthew Dellavedova may get the majority of those minutes. While Mo has been even better than expected on offense this season, his poor defense continues to negate much of his value. Meanwhile Delly has been great on both ends of the floor this season and often finishes games for the Cavaliers. On a related note,  it may be best to limit the amount of minutes Williams and J.R. Smith play together when everyone is healthy. Both are far better on offense than defense and tend to be negatives when their shots aren’t falling. A second unit featuring Smith and Williams as its primary scorers may be playing with fire.

Kevin Love not playing in the fourth was a surprise, especially considering how well he was playing. It’s hard to believe they are better off with Jefferson, Smith, and Thompson all playing ahead of Love in crunch time.

The Cavaliers are back at it tomorrow night at the Q against the Brooklyn Nets. After a pretty nice win tonight, they have to be sure not to take a much weaker Nets team for granted.