Cavaliers snap skid with 139-132 win over Charlotte
BY TIM SHIRER
CAVS BEAT WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - It would be an understatement to say the ultra-talented, highest payroll in the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers have struggled lately. Then enter Monday night’s contest with the Charlotte Hornets just 15-14 losers of the straight games and are 3-8 in their last 11 games. Boos have been heard frequently at Rocket Arena in the last few weeks.
Eight days ago, the Cavs lost in this same building to the Hornets who are 9-19 and 3-11 on the road. Tonight, Donovan Mitchell returned from a one game absence, Sam Merrill returned after a 14-game absence and Craig Porter, Jr. returned after missing Friday’s game due to an illness. The extra help made a difference as the Cavs looked a lot better as they defeated the Hornets 139-132.
The game was a little sloppy to start and with 10:22 left on the clock the Cavs took an 8-6 lead when Darius Garland hit a three. The Hornets took the lead when Mason Plumlee scored in the paint and was fouled by Mitchell with 10:08 left and he hit the free throw. The game went back and forth several times with six lead changes in the first two and a half minutes. With 8:48 left the Cavs took a 16-13 lead when Mitchell hit a three. With 7:25 left Jarrett Allen scored in the paint to give the Cavs a 22-17 lead. Then with 4:53 left after Charlotte cut the Cavs lead to two points De’Andre Hunter drained a three giving the Cavs a 27-22 lead. Then with 4:04 left in the opening quarter Merrill hit Hunter in the paint and the Cavs led 31-22. The Hornets retaliated and scored the nest six points and with 2:43 left Cleveland lead was 31-30 and Cavs bench boss Kenny Atkinson took a timeout. With 1:45 left Thomas Bryant fouled Josh Green. Green hit one of two free throws and the game was tied. Then with :49.7 left and the game tied Kon Knueppel drained a three giving the Hornets a 36-33 lead which is what the score was when the first quarter buzzer sounded. Hunter and LaMelo Ball led all scorers with nine points apiece in the opening quarter. The Cavs were once again outrebounded in the opening quarter, this time 12-6. The Hornets were on fire from the field shooting 62% (13 of 21) while Cleveland shot 46% (10 of 22) in the opening 12 minutes.
Knueppel hit a three just 43 seconds into the second quarter giving the Hornets a six-point lead. Mitchell cut the lead to three with 10:00 left with a three of his own. With 8:21 left Hunter hit a three and the game was tied 47-47 as Hunter raised his hands in the air. With 7:36 left Garland hit Nae’Qwan Tomlin in the paint and the big man from Memphis gave the Cavs a 49-47 lead. Then with 5:42 remaining in the half the shady Brandon Miller hit a three to give Charlotte a 52-49 lead. After cutting the lead to one point with 4:40 left in the half Allen gave the Cavs a 53-52 lead Merril hit the big man from Texas in the paint. After the Cavs built the lead to three points the Hornets took the lead on a four-point play by Moussa Diabate with 3:29 left. The Cavs then took a 57-56 lead when Garland hit a jumper with 3:15 left in the half. After two consecutive threes by Dean Wade and Mitchell, with 2:05 left the Cavs led 63-57. Knueppel cut the Cavs lead to 63-60 with a dagger from the corner with 1:23 remaining on the second quarter clock. For the first time in what seemed like forever (but was only three games) the Cavs led at the halftime break 70-63 and the energy had returned to Rocket Arena as the crowd celebrated the lead after 24 minutes. Garland led all scorers with 17 first half points. LaMelo and Knueppel paced the Hornets with 15 points apiece. The Cavs were on fire in the second quarter shooting 63% (15 of 24) to finish the half at 54% (25 of 46) from the field while the Hornets shot 50% (22 of 44) in the opening half. The Hornets were a little better than the Cavs from long range as they shot 55% (12 of 22) and the Cavs shot 50% (12 of 24). Charlotte had the advantage on the boards in the first half 23-16.
The Cavs lead grew to 76-66 with 10:16 left after Garland turned the ball over and then stole it back and drained a three. The Hornets scored the next six points, cutting the Cavs lead to four points until Garland found Bryant in the paint with 8:56 left, giving Cleveland a 78-72 lead. With 6:19 left the Cavs lead had dwindled to 82-80 and then with 5:59 left it was gone as the Hornets tied the game 82-82 when Garland picked up his third foul and Sion James hit both free throws. The Cavs came right back and with 5:13 left Bryant hit a three giving the Cavs an 86-82 lead. A score correction was made changing a Garland two-point basket to a three also. With 3:12 left in the quarter and the Cavs leading 93-85 Diabate hit Hunter in the nose with a blatant elbow. Hunter had to be helped off the floor with a towel and a bloody nose. The game was delayed while the blood was cleaned off the court. Diabate was charged with a flagrant foul 1 and the Cavs were awarded two foul shots. Hunter was unable to shoot the free throw due to the injury to his nose, so Mitchell was set to shoot the shots. Then Hunter emerged from the locker room and shot the free throws, draining them both and stayed in the game giving Cleveland a 95-85 lead. Less than 20 seconds late on the next possession after the free throws Hunter drained a three giving the Cavs a 98-85 lead which was their largest of the game to that point. As the quarter came to an end the Cavs led 104-95. Mitchell led all scorers with 27 points through three quarters. LaMelo paced the Hornets with 21. The Cavs were still outshooting the Hornets from the field 54% (37 of 69) to 47% (33 of 70). The Hornets continued to outrebound the Cavs 34-26 as they headed to the final 12 minutes.
Immediately as the final quarter began with 11:47 left on the clock Mitchell scored in the paint and was fouled by Knueppel giving the Cavs a 107-95 advantage. After the blatant elbow to Hunter, he caught fire hitting his fourth three of the game with 9:28 left giving the Cavs a 118-110 lead. Hornets boss Charles Lee took a timeout. With 5:33 left Wade after making two free throws on the previous possession drained a three from the top of the arc to give the Cavs a 131-112 lead and the magic returned to Rocket Arena as the crowd was electric. With 3:39 left the Hornets cut the lead to 12 points at 131-119 with a 7-0 run. Atkinson called a timeout. Immediately after the timeout Garland hit Allen in the paint and Allen slammed it home. With 2:26 left Charlotte cut the Cleveland lead to 11 points and Atkinson called another timeout. Both teams had cleared the benches at this point, and the Cavs were in control and on their way to snapping their three-game skid.
Mitchell led all scorers with 30 points. Hunter and Garland each had 27 for the Cavs. Garland notched a double as he also had 10 assists. LaMelo led the Hornets in the loss with 23 points. Knueppel and Miller also had 20 for Charlotte.
After shooting 61% in the first quarter the Hornets shot 45% after to finish at 49% (46 of 94) for the night while the Cavs who shot only 46% in the first quarter shot 58% in the final three quarters finishing at 55% (48 of 87) on the night from the field. The Cavs shot 55% (24 of 44) from longe range on the night and were on another level in the third quarter as they shot 64% (7 of 11) to start to pull away from Charlotte. The Cavs defense looked much better than it had the last few weeks as they forced 20 Charlotte turnovers which resulted in 31 Cavs points. The Hornets did win the battle of the boards by a wide margin 44-31. The Cavs were perfect from the free throw line as they went 19 for 19 from the Charity stripe.
The Cavs play game two of their back-to-back on Tuesday night when Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans (7-22, 2-10 road) come to town. It will be the first meeting between the two clubs this season. The Pelicans hold a slight advantage in the all-time series 26-23, but the Cavs do lead all-time in Cleveland 16-9 at Rocket Arena. Game time is 7:30 pm.
POSTED 12/22/2025 22:15
Lake County Sentinel
This Space could be yours
Thousands of People Will See it
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
email us for more info at:
Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell hits a jumper in the second quarter in the Cavs 139-132 win over Charlotte on Monday night at Rocket Arena. Photo by Tommy Shirer
