On Wednesday night, the Cavaliers will look to bounce back from an ugly performance against the Pistons on Monday at The Q.
After winning their previous five straight – including a Sunday afternoon drubbing of the Thunder in OKC – the Wine and Gold never got in a rhythm against Detroit and fell for the first time since the All-Star Break. Kyrie Irving led everyone with 30 points and Kevin Love added 24, but LeBron James had his toughest night of the year, finishing with just 12 points.
The Hornets come to town on a roll – winners of five straight and seven of their last eight. They’ll also have Big Al Jefferson and Kemba Walker in the lineup for Wednesday’s lineup, two players they were missing when they knocked off Cleveland back on February 3 in Charlotte.
The Hornets are tied with the Bulls for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, one that the Wine and Gold still sit atop. And with a big matchup with the team in closest pursuit – Toronto – set for Friday night, the Cavaliers would love to get back on track tonight in Cleveland.
In his fifth year out of UConn, Kemba Walker is having his best season as a pro. Walker – who’s averaging 20.7 ppg this year – has the second-highest scoring average in the East since Christmas, posting five 30-plus point efforts during that stretch. Kemba comes to The Q averaging 27.0 points over his last four games, including a 28-point outing in Charlotte’s recent win over the Nets in Brooklyn. He finished with 18 points in the Hornets’ late-November loss to Cleveland at The Q and didn’t suit up in their victory over the Cavs earlier this month.
His counterpart, Kyrie Irving, bounced back from a bout with bed bugs – which limited him to just nine minutes of action on Sunday – to notch a game-high 30 points in Monday’s loss to the Pistons. Kyrie led everyone with 26 points the last two times these teams squared off and, excluding his abbreviated run in OKC, is averaging 29.0 points per over his last five games.
Fans should get their money’s worth on Wednesday, watching two of the East’s best point guards duke it out.
Although Cody Zeller will get the start at center for Charlotte, their main man in the middle is still Big Al Jefferson, who returned to the lineup for the Hornets on Friday night after missing the previous 23 games following knee surgery.
Jefferson struggled in that first game back, but went for 18 points on 9-for-13 shooting two nights later in Brooklyn. Jefferson – who was just so-so in his one meeting with Cleveland this season – has doubled-up in 10 of his 21 meetings against the Wine and Gold, and he’ll be looking to help get Charlotte its fifth straight road win on Wednesday night.
Both of Cleveland’s big men will be looking for a bounce-back game against Charlotte. After posting three straight double-doubles, Tristan Thompson was ineffective against Andre Drummond on Monday night, finishing with zero points and six boards in the loss. Mozgov led all bench players with seven boards, but netted just four points in relief. They’ll both have to turn their game up a notch when Big Al rolls in with the red-hot Hornets.
Hornets forward Marvin Williams is having a solid, under-the-radar comeback season this year – posting his highest scoring and rebounding numbers since his final season in Atlanta back in 2011-12.
He’s already posted more double-doubles this season (nine) than he had in his previous four seasons combined and this year, he and Kevin Durant are the only two players in the league who’ve knocked down at least 80 three-pointers and swatted at least 50 shots. Williams finished with 16 points on 5-for-7 shooting – including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc – in his last meeting with the Cavs earlier this month.
In that game, Kevin Love doubled-up with 12 points and 12 boards, but shot just 4-of-12 from the floor. Love struggled in the next three games following that performance, but has been very good since the Break – averaging 22.7 points and 10.6 boards over that span.
As the playoff picture begins to take shape, and with the possibility the Wine and Gold might face Charlotte in the first round, these are the matchups both clubs will keep a close eye on with April in mind.
In Charlotte’s victory over Cleveland back on February 3, reserve guard Jeremy Lin – (who got the start that night with Kemba Walker’s injury) – took it to the Cavaliers in the third period, scoring 11 of his team-high 24 points. Rookie Frank Kaminsky was just as deadly – coming off Steve Clifford’s bench to finish with 15 points, going 7-of-8 from the floor.
With Walker back in the starting lineup, the Hornets can once again bring the highest scoring reserve combo in the Eastern Conference – Lin and Jeremy Lamb – back off the bench. Lamb has notched 26 games of double-digit points with the second unit; Lin has had nine games of 15 or more. The presence of Lin, Lamb and Kaminsky – mixed with Jefferson with the second unit – means that the Cavaliers second unit will have to be at its best on Wednesday night.
On Sunday afternoon in OKC, Richard Jefferson was excellent in relief. Timofey Mozgov and Matthew Dellavedova were solid as well. But the Cavs bench will need to be better than it was against the Pistons – especially with Iman Shumpert still on the shelf with a sprained left shoulder – if they hope to avenge their loss to Charlotte from earlier this month.
