Cavs win their 13th straight with ugly 118-117 victory over Hornets

A late Evan Mobley three helped the Cavs steal a road victory.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have been tempting fate in their last several outings. They’ve played down to their competition this past week but were able to pull out wins against worse opponents like the Portland Trail Blazers, Chicago Bulls, and Miami Heat. That happened again on Friday as they escaped with a 118-117 win over the lowly Charlotte Hornets.

This was an ugly, choppy game. The Cavs didn’t come out of the gates strong, but their ability to consistently get to the line helped buoy their disjointed offense.

The Cavaliers started to create separation in the second quarter. They closed the half strong and went into the break with an 11-point lead. Cleveland seemed set to pull away in the second half with a stress-free win.

A poor third quarter kept that from happening. They started out 1-7 from the floor and it took them six minutes to register their second field goal of the half. That let the Hornets get back into the game.

Their double-digit lead evaporated early in the fourth quarter. Charlotte pushed the advantage to as much as nine midway through the fourth before the Cavs stormed back.

Evan Mobley changed the momentum by hitting a late shot clock side-step three to tie the game with just over two minutes left.

Darius Garland chipped in from there. He drew fouls on the following two possessions to allow the Cavs to keep pace with Charlotte.

De’Andre Hunter saved the game. He rebounded a Donovan Mitchell missed three with 43 seconds left and made the putback layup to give Cleveland a two-point lead. He followed that up by forcing turnover on a Miles Bridges drive to the hoop on the next play.

Once again, Hunter made the difference down the stretch.

The Cavs should’ve been able to easily close it from there. Mitchell was fouled on the ensuing possession and made both free throws to make it a four-point lead.

Things became interesting when Bridges hit a three to cut the deficit to one with nine seconds left. They fouled Mitchell right away and he hit both free throws.

As we’ve seen from Kenny Atkinson throughout the season, he immediately fouled while up three to send Charlotte to the line. Nearly no time elapsed off the clock. Bridges made both free throws to make it a one-point game. Then Mitchell missed both of his free throws to keep it a one-point game.

Bridges missed what could’ve been a game-winning half-court shot just before the buzzer expired.

Once again, all of these theatrics probably could’ve been avoided if the Cavs played honest basketball. Atkinson’s strategy of fouling up three nearly came back to bite them for the second time this week.

Mitchell led the team in scoring with 24 points on 6-19 shooting from the field with one assist. Garland added 20 points on 4-10 shooting with two helpers. Mobley provided 19 points on 6-13 shooting with 10 boards and four helpers.

The Cavs needed Hunter’s versatility and scoring off the bench. He supplied that as he finished with 15 points, six rebounds, and four assists.

The Hornets were led by Bridges who had a game-high 46 points on 15-32 shooting with eight boards.

The Cavs probably didn’t deserve to come away victorious. They didn’t come out with the focus a championship-caliber team should’ve and nearly paid for it.

That said, a win is a win. That’s now 13-straight for Cleveland.

We’ll see if the focus is better on Sunday when they travel to Wisconsin to take on the Milwaukee Bucks.