Cavaliers at Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets are quietly beginning to look like one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference and will get another chance to prove themselves when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday. The Cavaliers began their two-game road trip with a loss at Toronto on Wednesday and have dropped three in a row away from home.
The Hornets won the first four of a seven-game homestand and closed out Wednesday’s 101-87 win over the Washington Wizards by outscoring them 27-6 in the fourth quarter. Charlotte has won nine of 12 since beginning the season with three straight losses and is 8-0 when the offense manages at least 100 points. The Cavaliers have suffered each of their four losses on the road and managed only 19 fourth-quarter points in Wednesday’s 103-99 setback. “We’ve got to learn to play on the road again, which we did last year at some point,” LeBron James told reporters. “We just learned how to start winning games on the road (last season) and we haven’t been able to do it thus far.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Cleveland), FSN Southeast (Charlotte)
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (11-4): Cleveland got guard Mo Williams (ankle) back from a two-game absence but lost guard Matthew Dellavedova (calf) on the last homestand and is still without starting center Timofey Mozgov (shoulder). "I thought that we got tired for obvious reasons,” Cavaliers coach David Blatt told reporters of the fourth quarter in Toronto. “We are very shorthanded. I thought our guys played hard. I thought we ran out of gas.” Williams played 32 minutes off the bench in his return and scored 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting.
ABOUT THE HORNETS (9-6): A big part of Charlotte’s recent success is its ability to dominate other teams’ backcourts with the four-headed rotation of Nicolas Batum, Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lin and Jeremy Lamb. Those four combined for 55 points on Wednesday, led by Lamb’s 18 on 6-of-12 shooting off the bench. Batum handed out a season-high 11 assists in the win and has at least eight in three of the last four contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Hornets signed head coach Steve Clifford to a three-year contract extension.
2. Cleveland F Kevin Love is averaging 25.5 points in the last four games.
3. Charlotte F Marvin Williams is 7-of-13 from 3-point range in the last four games.