Takeaways from the Charlotte Hornets fifth straight loss against the Cavs
The Charlotte Hornets lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 115-107, and have lost five consecutive games since November 1st.
Let me start off by saying that it’s not time to panic for all you Charlotte Hornets fans out there. It’s still very early and we still have 69 games to play before April. Nicolas Batum just played his first game and gave us a glimpse into what this team can be when fully healthy. Despite having a key player back, Steve Clifford’s side fell to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers at home.
Negatives
The Glass
The most glaring thing you notice when just looking at the box score is that the Charlotte Hornets allowed the Cleveland Cavaliers to grab 16 offensive boards. Every Cavalier who played outside of J.R. Smith (0), Kyle Korver (0), and Channing Frye (1) had at least two offensive rebounds. Cleveland Scored 22 second-chance points off of those 16 offensive rebounds.
Dwight Howard got into foul trouble and when he wasn’t on the floor Charlotte had a difficult time keeping the Cleveland players off the glass.
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Shooting Struggles
Charlotte connected on just 23% of their attempts from distance against the Cavs, going just of 26. Kemba Walker was just 3 of 9 and Jeremy Lamb didn’t make a single three after knocking in at least one in each of his last ten games.
These struggles have been a consistent theme throughout this five-game losing streak. Over the last five games, the Hornets have shot 43% from the field and just 32% from beyond the arc. They have also lead the league in free throw attempts per game over that stretch with 28 but have also been the worst in terms of percentage at just under 64%.
Digging Themselves Holes
The Hornets allowed the Cavs to start out the game by scoring 19 points in the first four and a half minutes. Which in turn forced Charlotte to have to fight back from down 19 to 6 very early, and they did as they went on a 13-0 run of their own to tie the game. Then to start the third quarter the Hornets had a 67-61 lead but that was down to a one-point lead as they let Cleveland go on a 7-22 run in the first two minutes and 15 seconds of the quarter. Once again at the start of the fourth quarter, the Cavs had another 7-2 run in two minutes pushing a four-point lead into a nine-point lead.
Positives
Batum is Back
Nicolas Batum made his season debut after missing the first 12 games with an elbow injury. He came out playing strong as he got a couple easy layups early scoring all of the Hornets first 6 points of the game. He finished the first half with 15 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals on 7-9 shooting. But as to be expected of a guy who missed the first month of the season he ran out of gas in the second half he was 0 for 6 from the floor with three turnovers, but he did have 4 assists. Some of those turnovers where just chemistry that isn’t there yet with some of his teammates but that’ll work its self out.
MKG looking like Rip
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist knocking down mid-range jumpers like Richard Hamilton in last nights game. He shooting the ball with confidence this year and although he still isn’t a consistent threat from behind the three-point line he has turned himself into a respectable shooter from 15-20 feet. He didn’t just shoot jumpers though Kidd-Gilchrist had nice take against J.R. Smith finishing with a two-handed flush. He finished with a season-high 22 points to go along with six rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
Tough Schedule Early
In Charlotte’s first 13 games of the season, only one opponent was a sub-.500 team. After this back to back against the Chicago Bulls (2-10) and the Los Angeles Clippers (lost 6 straight), Charlotte will close out the November against the Minnesota Timberwolves (9-5), Washington Wizards (9-5), Cleveland Cavaliers (8-7), San Antonio Spurs (9-6) and the Toronto Raptors (9-5). That is a very tough stretch of games and Batum came back at just the right time.
Right now the Hornets are gonna lose more games than they will in the second half of the year or at least they should because they are playing better teams right now. In the Hornets next game, they will face off against Bulls on Friday, November 17, at 8 PM ET.