Hornets at Cavaliers
The Charlotte Hornets' inability to execute on both ends down the stretch on Friday wasted an opportunity to knock off one Eastern Conference finalist from last spring and ended a four-game winning streak. The Hornets will try to tighten their focus in the fourth quarter Sunday when they hit the road to visit the other East finalist from last spring - the defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers.
Charlotte held a 10-point lead with 9 1/2 minutes left and was still up 102-97 with 4:11 to play before missing seven straight field goal attempts and letting DeMar DeRozan catch fire in a 113-111 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Friday. It marked the second time this season that the Hornets allowed more than 100 points - both losses - and came despite another brilliant performance from star guard Kemba Walker. The Cavaliers will present an even more difficult defensive challenge for Charlotte thanks to their plethora of scoring options and the leadership of LeBron James, who became the youngest player in NBA history to reach 27,000 points in Friday's 105-94 win at the Washington Wizards. Cleveland, which visited the White House on Thursday to be honored for winning the NBA championship last spring, had little trouble bouncing back from its first loss after falling at home to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.
TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Charlotte), FSN Ohio (Cleveland)
ABOUT THE HORNETS (6-2): Walker scored 40 points on 12-of-19 shooting while adding 10 rebounds, six assists and just one turnover on Friday but could not quite drag his team to the win. Charlotte struggled to defend the penetration and mid-range game of DeRozan but showed off the overall strength of players like Walker, Marvin Williams (13 rebounds) and Nicolas Batum (10), who all finished with double-figure rebounds. The Hornets could use more help on the boards from their centers as Cody Zeller, Frank Kaminsky and Roy Hibbert combined for fewer boards than Williams on Friday (11).
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (7-1): James scored 27 points to reach 27,020 for his career on Friday and added 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. James knocked down three of Cleveland's 14 3-pointers in the win but more notable was point guard Kyrie Irving finding his shooting stroke and knocking down 4-of-9 from beyond the arc in a 29-point effort. Irving was 1-of-12 from beyond the arc in the previous two games but rebounded on Friday to knock down at least four 3-pointers in a game for the fourth time this season.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Cavaliers F Kevin Love recorded his third straight double-double and fifth of the season with 14 points and 16 rebounds on Friday.
2. Hibbert (knee) returned from a five-game absence and contributed 10 points and two rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench Friday while F Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (back) sat out and is day-to-day.
3. Cleveland took three of four in the series last season and won its two home games by an average of 10 points.