Cleveland Cavaliers Back in NBA Playoff Spot With Win Over Charlotte Hornets

The Cleveland Cavaliers built a 21-point lead in the first quarter and held on for a 94–87 road win over the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night that continued their impressive run away from the Rocket Arena.

Donovan Mitchell scored 24 points and Evan Mobley added a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Jaylon Tyson chipped in 14 points, while Jarrett Allen poured in 13 points and nine rebounds for the Cavs, who smothered Charlotte defensively by limiting the Hornets to 32 first-half points on 26 percent shooting.

The win marked Cleveland’s fifth road victory in its last six games, showing that despite the overwhelming loss at home to the Oklahoma City Thunder, away from home, the Cavs are handling business.

Brandon Miller led Charlotte with 24 points, and Kon Knueppel added 21 points and 11 rebounds. The Hornets struggled mightily from deep, going 8-for-46 on three-pointers, and were outrebounded 60–47.

Cleveland set the tone early, knocking down 11 of its first 15 shots to race out to a commanding first-quarter advantage. Relentless on-ball pressure from Cleveland forced Charlotte into rushed shots and uncharacteristic turnovers.

Mitchell scored 14 points in the first half as Cleveland’s defense kept the Hornets out of rhythm. Charlotte matched a season low with just 12 points in the second quarter and went into halftime trailing 56–32.

The Hornets found some momentum in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 12 behind consecutive alley-oop connections from LaMelo Ball to Miller. Charlotte made it a one-possession game late, trimming the lead to four with 13 seconds remaining on a Miller three-pointer and a Knueppel driving layup, but couldn’t complete the comeback.

Coming off the bench, Ball endured one of the toughest games of his career, finishing with four points on 1-for-15 shooting and missing all ten of his three-point attempts.

What coach Kenny Atkinson said

The factor in the win?

“Our defense, I thought we made them, uncomfortable. We knew they were coming in here hot, playing great offensive basketball.

“We talked about it pregame, knew we had to put them in an uncomfortable position so they can start missing some shots, so we did that. Obviously, put a defensive lineup out there to start. I thought Evan [Mobley] was epic, elite. He was all over the place, both ends, that fueled our start.”

On Charlotte’s poor three-point shooting night. What caused it?

“Some of it is luck. They missed some open ones, but like I said, I felt like we pushed them off their spots, we made catches tough, you know, we made them uncomfortable, that helps.”