The Charlotte Hornets lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers 128-114, but the game was closer than the final score would indicate.

The Summary

It didn’t take long to see why the Cavaliers are the sole remaining unbeaten team in the NBA. They scored at will inside in the game’s early going while Ty Jerome got hot from deep in place of the resting Donovan Mitchell. The Hornets struggled to score at points and missed a lot of shots around the basket you’d expect them to make. The offense started clicking in the late first quarter and through the rest of the first half, but it was nowhere near good enough to keep up with the 72 points they gave up on the defensive end. They trailed by 13 at the break.

The Hornets scored in multiples of three to start the second half to make the game close enough for the Cavs to feel uncomfortable. They narrowed the gap to three, then the Cavs took it back out to double digits, then the Hornets got it back to three by the end of the quarter. Miles Bridges hit three 3-pointers and scored 14 points to lead the comeback effort. It totaled out to a 40 point quarter that made it a one possession game heading into the fourth quarter.

Good teams know how to close out tight games, and the Cavs are a good team. They tightened the screws on the Hornets in the early part of the fourth quarter and created some distance. The Hornets went cold from deep and couldn’t find the baskets they needed to close that distance down the stretch. They missed their first nine 3-point attempts of the quarter as the Cavaliers slowly pulled away to put the game out of reach.

The Good

Miles Bridges had a second straight strong performance coming off his knee injury. He finished with a near triple double–19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. He found his stroke from three and maintained his aggressiveness attacking the basket that he had on Saturday.

Grant Williams struggled a bit with the size and length of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley on the defensive end of the floor, but he had a good game all things considered.

Vasilije Micic came back from the dead with Tre Mann out. He hit three threes and dished two assists in his backup minutes and looked more composed and comfortable than he did in the preseason and early season.

Josh Green had his second straight 15 point game.

The Bad

LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller need to be more efficient for the Hornets to win consistently. LaMelo has been a little cold lately while Miller has struggled with his shot for most of the season. They combined to shoot 17-of-49 (35%) from the field and 8-of-27 (30%) from three. It’s really surprising that the Hornets were competitive as long as they were with their two best scorers missing so many shots.

Live by the three, die by the three. Hot 3-point shooting kept the Hornets in the game through three quarters even as their stars struggled to find their rhythm. They didn’t make a single three in the fourth quarter, and that doomed any comeback effort.

What’s NExt

The Hornets head to Brooklyn to take on the Nets in their second NBA Cup group stage game.