Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Charlotte Hornets 112 to 105, snapping Hornets three-game winning streak. Cavs bounced back after losing to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night. Hornets are still three games back behind the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Hornets backup center Miles Plumlee (calf strain) and backup point guard Ramon Sessions (knee) were both cleared to play against the Cavs but did not play. Sessions missed the past 21 games while Plumlee missed the last 16 games for the Hornets. Charlotte went on an 11-1 run in the fourth quarter to cut the Cavs lead to just two and had a chance to tie the game at 100 with four and half minutes left, but Kemba Walker made only one of two free throws. Cavs quickly responded with JR Smith hitting a three-pointer on the next possession and then Kevin Love hit a 12-foot jumper and then LeBron James converted in the lane to push the lead to eight. Charlotte would cut the lead to five, but Batum missed an open three-pointer with 25 seconds left. James grabbed the rebound and was fouled and would make two free throws to put the game away.
The MVP for the Hornets this game is Marco Belinelli who scored 22 points off the bench. Belinelli stepped up when MKG got in foul trouble and came up huge for the Hornets in the fourth quarter. Scoring nine points in the quarter, including a transition dunk to cap off the 11-1 run from the Hornets to cut the Cavs lead to two. Charlotte did everything right tonight to win just the Cavs made enough plays especially at the end of the game to win. The Hornets outscored the Cavs in the paint 50-40, grabbed 14 offense rebounds that result in 24-second chance points, forced the Cavs to turn the ball over 12 times and even made ten three-pointers. Like I said the Cavs just made enough plays to take this win from the Hornets. The leading scorers for the Hornets this game were Kemba Walker with 28 points 5 assists, Nicolas Batum with 19 points, Cody Zeller with 15 points 11 rebounds, Marvin Williams with 11 points and 11 rebounds. The leading scorers for the Cavs were LeBron James with 32 points 11 assists 9 rebounds, Kyrie Irving with 26 points 7 assists, Kevin Love with 15 points 12 rebounds and JR Smith with 9 points. Charlotte Hornets (32-40) play Sunday afternoon against the Phoenix Suns, the next game for Devin Brooker after scoring 70 points(!) against the Boston Celtics.
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