The Cleveland Cavaliers played their best game of this young season, as they beat the Charlotte Hornets 113-89 on Tuesday night.
The Cleveland Cavaliers came into this game without many of their key players. Kyle Korver was added to the ever-growing injury list as he joined Kevin Love, Sam Dekker, Cedi Osman, and George Hill. Despite the barrage of injuries, the Cavs dominated the game from the opening tip, as they outscored the Hornets 38-24 in the first quarter. The Cavaliers never allowed the Hornets to get back into the game, either, as they outscored Charlotte in every quarter en route to victory. While the Cavaliers did unfortunately have 20 turnovers of their own, they only conceded six points off those turnovers, and got 24 points off Charlotte’s turnovers.
Cleveland’s defense was the story of the night as they held Charlotte to just 34.7 percent shooting from the field and 19.5 percent from beyond the arc. The Hornets couldn’t get any consistent offense going as their All-Star Kemba Walker struggled to find his shot. Walker finished the night with just seven points on two-of-16 shooting.
Jordan Clarkson continued his efficient scoring as he led the Cleveland Cavaliers with 24 points on nine-of-15 shooting, and also had in five rebounds and two assists. He was getting to his sweet spots consistently in the mid-range area, and continued to put pressure on the Hornets’ defense throughout the entirety of his 28 minutes played, and was a plus-18. David Nwaba also chipped in 18 points in the victory on seven-of-nine shooting from the field, which was a welcome addition for Cleveland’s bench.
Here’s what we learned from the Cavs’ second win of the season.