The Charlotte Hornets ended their four-game road trip on a high note as they bludgeoned the Los Angeles Lakers by 19 points on Sunday. The Hornets will look to sustain the momentum of that huge win when they take on the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers in a mouth-watering clash at Time Warner Cable Arena.
Read on below for an in-depth breakdown of this NBA matchup and while you’re at it, you can check out our preview of Golden State vs. Washington.
The Cleveland Cavaliers stretched their unbeaten run to five games with a thrilling 111-106 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Monday. Kyrie Irving scored six of his 25 points in overtime to lead the Cavaliers to their first win in Indianapolis in six years. With the victory, the Cavs improved to 5-1 under new head coach Tyronn Lue.
Key to the Cavs’ resurgence has been their superb offense. The Cavs have scored over 110 points in each of their last five games. That sizzling offense was in full display Monday against the Pacers where they shot a solid 50 percent from the field. Things are finally starting to click for the 38-year-old Lue who wants his Cleveland team to push the pace and share the ball more.
That brand of play was pretty much evident in the Cavs’ win against the Pacers where all five of their starters scored in double-figures. One guy who’s really thriving under Lue’s offensive set-up is Kevin Love. He has improved in areas like scoring (19.2), field goal percentage (49%) and paint field goal percentage (68%) under the rookie head coach.
The Cavs will look to keep the momentum going when they take on the Charlotte Hornets later tonight. The Cavs will fancy their chances of doing just that as they have fared extremely well against the Hornets of late. The Cavaliers have won their last four meetings with Charlotte by an average of 14.3 points. The Cavaliers have covered the spread in three of those four games.
The Cavaliers are 9-1 SU and 4-4-2 ATS in their last 10 road games.
The Charlotte Hornets finally snapped their two-game losing streak with a resounding 101-82 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night. Marvin Williams and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist led the way for the Hornets in this contest, scoring 19 points and grabbing 12 rebounds apiece.
Key to the Hornets’ victory on Sunday was their phenomenal defense. They held the Western Conference-worst Lakers to just 33.8 percent shooting from the field. Things are bound to get tougher, though, for Steve Clifford’s men as standing in their way tonight are the red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs have won their last five games by an average of 11.2 points.
For the Hornets to pull off the shock victory tonight, they will need to get much better performances from Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lin. Charlotte’s starting backcourt combined for just 5-of-24 from the field in the win against the Lakers. Walker has struggled mightily on the offensive end of late, shooting just 29.5 percent from the floor over his last five games. That simply won’t do against a Cleveland defense that’s allowing just 96.5 points per game this season, third-lowest in the NBA.
The Hornets are 3-1 ATS in their last four home games.
