On Wednesday night, the Cleveland Cavs got back into the win column with a narrow road victory over the Charlotte Hornets. While the Cavs very nearly relinquished a huge lead in this one, having gone up by over 20 points at halftime, they ultimately were able to do just enough to escape with a 94-87 victory in what was a very low-scoring affair.
One of the big reasons why the Cavs were able to pull out the win was the play of Hornets guard LaMelo Ball, who shot an abysmal 1/15 from the field, including 0/10 from beyond the three-point line in the loss.
In fact, the Cavs and Hornets as a collective combined to shoot 16/87 from beyond the arc.
Making matters even more embarrassing for the Hornets is that this game was a rare nationally televised showcase for the franchise as part of the NBA “Rivals Week.” While many fans were struggling to find how on Earth the Cavs and Hornets could possibly be perceived as rivals, some speculated that it was due to the Hornets employing LaMelo Ball and the Cavs having his older brother Lonzo.
Unfortunately, Ball’s disastrous performance might have guaranteed that the NBA will never make the decision to put the Hornets back on national TV at any point in the near future, especially not with their A-Team led by Mike Breen on the call, as they were on Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, the Cavs were sure thankful that the Hornets struggled so much to shoot the ball, as they weren’t exactly lighting it up on offense in their own right. Cleveland was in need of a win after dropping a blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday afternoon in Cleveland.
The Cavs will look to make it two wins in a row when they next take the floor on Friday evening for a home game against the Sacramento Kings.