The Cleveland Cavaliers opened a three-game road trip with a 124-112 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night, November 9, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. Grayson Allen scored 27 points and Naz Reid added 25 points and 13 rebounds for Charlotte, which halted a six-game losing streak, the Beacon Journal reported.
Cleveland actually started fast, building an early 14-5 edge, but Allen and Reid combined for 32 of Charlotte’s first 44 points and the Hornets erupted for 40 points in the second quarter to take a 69-53 halftime lead, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. Charlotte led by as many as 33 points before Cleveland’s late push.
The Hornets won the game from long range. A team that entered Monday with the second-worst 3-point percentage in the NBA shot 23-for-46 from beyond the arc, with Allen sinking six and Reid four, the Beacon Journal reported. Charlotte did it with a makeshift lineup, playing without leading scorer Brandon Miller, who left Friday’s game in the second quarter with groin tightness.
Charlotte’s bench outproduced its starters’ support cast as well, contributing 43 points: Tidjane Salaun scored 14 and Royce O’Neale 10, while starters Sion James had 11 and Coby White posted 10 points and eight assists, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. Ryan Kalkbrenner’s 15 rebounds helped the Hornets control the boards.
Meleek Thomas led the Cavaliers with 18 points off the bench, Payton Watson scored 13, and Jarrett Allen provided 12 points and a team-best seven rebounds, the Beacon Journal reported. James Harden, Donovan Mitchell and Thomas Bryant each scored 11 and Mario Hezonja added 10. Cleveland shot 51.2% from the field, but Mitchell was held to a season low on 4-of-11 shooting.
The Cavaliers made it interesting late, pulling within 118-110 on a Thomas 3-pointer with less than four minutes to play after Charlotte scored only 17 points in the fourth quarter, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. Kalkbrenner tipped in a Reid miss and O’Neale followed with a 3-pointer to restore control for the Hornets.
The loss was Cleveland’s fourth in a five-game stretch, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. What happens next: the Cavaliers continue their three-game road trip looking for the defensive answers that escaped them in Charlotte, where an opponent’s hot shooting night turned an early lead into a double-digit defeat.
Photo: Erik Drost, CC BY