Cavs swat Hornets, tie second-longest winning streak to start a season

Cleveland’s offense allowed them to escape with a short-handed victory.

The Cleveland Cavaliers made history with a 128-114 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday evening. They’ve tied the 1993-94 Houston Rockets and 1948-49 Washington Capitols as the only teams to start 15-0. Just the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors have won more games to begin a season.

This wasn’t pretty, but Darius Garland and Ty Jerome wouldn’t let the Cavs' streak end tonight as they took turns exchanging daggers down the stretch in the fourth. That was much needed with Donovan Mitchell sitting this game out. The defense has been and continues to be a cause of concern.

Kenny Atkinson hasn’t been happy with the Cavs' recent defensive effort and understandably so. Cleveland has registered a 112 defensive rating in the last week which ranks 15th in the league during that stretch. A lot of this has to do with opponents shooting 39% from three during this past week.

“We showed that our contest level was not great,” Atkinson said about the defense pregame. “I think [contesting threes] is a bigger part of the game than maybe the average fan thinks. But I know we have to do a better job because you could lose important games if teams shoot 45%, 50% from three.”

That message might’ve been delivered to his team, but it wasn’t enacted. The Cavs were once again a step slow. They allowed the Hornets to get into a rhythm which isn’t ideal considering they take the second-highest percentage of shots from three. Fortunately for Cleveland, the offense continued to show why they’re the best in the league.

Cleveland scored 72 points in the first half, it was the sixth time this season they’ve scored more than 70 points in a half. For context, they did that just nine times last season. They couldn’t continue that pace in the second half, but they were still able to do enough on that end to come away with the win.

The Cavaliers continue to shoot the cover off of the ball. Atkinson has insisted that will come down, but it hasn’t so far.

“We’re not going to keep shooting like this,” Atkinson said after Friday’s win over the Chicago Bulls. “But you know, on the other hand, we look at shot quality. ... I think we’re pretty high up on shot quality and that’s all you can control.”

Cleveland just continues to create phenomenal looks for their shooters. They knocked down 43.3% of their triples on Sunday. This time, it was Jerome and Georges Niang who benefited from this most as they combined to go 7-14 from three. The ball movement combined with the gravity of the bigs when they rolled to the rim opened up phenomenal looks for Cleveland’s shooters.

The Cavs were also able to get to the rim at will. Every time the Hornets seemed to be making a game of it, the Cavs responded by just getting to the cup. They repeatedly attacked Charlotte’s injury-riddled frontline as 47% of their shots came at the rim (97th percentile) and they converted 71% of them (67th percentile).

Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley were responsible for a lot of this damage. Allen was a consistent presence on the offense glass. The force he was going to the rim allowed him to finish with 21 points on 6-7 shooting with 15 rebounds. Mobley looked rejuvenated after missing Friday’s game as he contributed 23 points and 11 boards. He remains an offensive force with and without the ball in his hands.

The backcourt makes this offense hum. Garland was in complete control of the game once again as he orchestrated this impressive offense. He contributed 25 points and 12 assists. Jerome’s ability to find and leverage openings has been invaluable. His knack for creating openings for himself and the bigs out of pick-and-rolls was one of the many reasons why the Cavs were able to get to the rim as they did. Jerome finished with 24 points and 8 assists on 9-15 shooting.

The Cavaliers sustained two injuries in this game that could be costly in Tuesday’s matchup against the Boston Celtics if they aren’t able to recover. Isaac Okoro and Dean Wade both exited the game with left ankle sprains.

The Cavs did enough to get the victory on Sunday, but the defense will need to be a lot better in their showdown with Boston if they want to keep this winning streak going.