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Hoping to break a five-game losing streak and coming off their biggest loss of the season the Cavaliers return home to face the 4-12 Charlotte Hornets, losers of 11 of their last 13. Dean Wade is listed as doubtful and Jarrett Allen questionable for the Cavs.
The Hornets also have injury issues. LaMelo Ball, their All-Star point guard, missed the first 13 games with an ankle sprain. He returned for the last three games, averaging 19 points and 7 assists, before turning the same ankle on Wednesday stepping on a fan. He is out for the next few games.
Backup point guard Dennis Smith Jr is doubtful, so the Hornets will probably be relying on third string point guard Theo Maledon, 21, a 3rd year player with career shooting percentages of 38% overall and 33% on 3’s. This year in 15 minutes per game Maledon is shooting much better at 54% and 41% although he doesn’t shoot much, averaging just 3.2 shots in those 15 minutes.
After Ball, Smith, and Maledon they don’t have another point guard on the roster. They will have to play part of this game with a shooting guard, probably Terry Rozier, at the point.
Rozier is their leading scorer at 20.8 ppg, but he’s shooting just 39% from the field and 33% on 3’s. Kelly Oubre Jr will start at small forward with Gordon Hayward out. Oubre is averaging 18 points on 41% and 32% on 3’s.
The Hornets rank 27th in point differential while the Cavs are down to 5th after their recent string of losses. Offensively the Cavs are ranked 8th and the Hornets 28th by cleaningtheglass.com, which omits garbage time numbers. Defensively the Cavs are 7th and the Hornets 20th.
The Hornets rank 2nd in the NBA in percentage of shots taken at the rim at 40%. They rank 22nd in 3-point rate so they are definitely an old school attack-the-rim kind of team. Not only do they not take a lot of 3’s, they’re pretty bad at making them, ranking 27th. As a result they’re second worst in effective field goal percentage.
They also don’t draw a lot of fouls, ranking 27th in free throw rate despite going inside a lot. But they are above average at offensive rebounding, ranking 10th. They muscle up shots in the paint and get putbacks. They average 109 points per game, three points below the league average.
Defensively they excel at defending the 3-point shot, ranking 4th at 33.7%. The Cavs are 2nd in 3-point accuracy at 40.2% so it will be a great 3-point shooting team against a great 3-point defense.
Their defense is solid inside, too, ranking 8th at defending the rim. Their weakness is defending the short mid-range shot where they rank 29th. The Cavs might be able to hit some jump hooks and floaters.
The Hornets’ centers are big; Mason Plumlee, 32, is 6’11”, 254 and Nick Richards is 7’0”, 245. They play 27 and 19 minutes, respectively, and combine for 19 points and 15 boards. If Jarrett Allen can’t go we could have some problems on the defensive glass - these guys combine for 6 of the team’s 12 offensive rebounds per game.
Even without Wade and Allen the Cavs should prevail against a team that has lost 11 of 13, is down to their third string point guard, and is also missing their starting small forward who averages 17.4 points per game. Fortunately, Plumlee and Richards don’t shoot 3’s so we won’t get lit up like Brook Lopez did on Wednesday.
But more important than the numbers and matchups this game comes down to desire. Bickerstaff has called out the players for playing “arrogant basketball” and having a “fat cat mentality”.
“Defense comes down to the effort you’re willing to put in. The second effort. The third effort. The fourth effort. Right now, we don’t have enough guys putting in that second, third and fourth effort.” - JBB after the Bucks’ game
The biggest problem has been playing defense with enough intensity in the first half. The Cavaliers have allowed their opponents to score over 60 points in the first half four of their last five games, and Bickerstaff has made it clear that is not acceptable. The Cavs have the worst defensive rating in the league over the last five games and have been getting torched from deep.
I expect the Cavs to lose the fat cat complacency and come out with a strong defensive effort against a team missing a couple of key players and ranked 27th in offensive efficiency. If they don’t there is going to be some yelling in the locker room at halftime and maybe some lineup changes. It’s clear Bickerstaff has had enough.
“It’s my responsibility to search and find the guys that are most willing to play the way we want to play”. - JBB
The Hornets also have injury issues. LaMelo Ball, their All-Star point guard, missed the first 13 games with an ankle sprain. He returned for the last three games, averaging 19 points and 7 assists, before turning the same ankle on Wednesday stepping on a fan. He is out for the next few games.
Backup point guard Dennis Smith Jr is doubtful, so the Hornets will probably be relying on third string point guard Theo Maledon, 21, a 3rd year player with career shooting percentages of 38% overall and 33% on 3’s. This year in 15 minutes per game Maledon is shooting much better at 54% and 41% although he doesn’t shoot much, averaging just 3.2 shots in those 15 minutes.
After Ball, Smith, and Maledon they don’t have another point guard on the roster. They will have to play part of this game with a shooting guard, probably Terry Rozier, at the point.
Rozier is their leading scorer at 20.8 ppg, but he’s shooting just 39% from the field and 33% on 3’s. Kelly Oubre Jr will start at small forward with Gordon Hayward out. Oubre is averaging 18 points on 41% and 32% on 3’s.
The Hornets rank 27th in point differential while the Cavs are down to 5th after their recent string of losses. Offensively the Cavs are ranked 8th and the Hornets 28th by cleaningtheglass.com, which omits garbage time numbers. Defensively the Cavs are 7th and the Hornets 20th.
The Hornets rank 2nd in the NBA in percentage of shots taken at the rim at 40%. They rank 22nd in 3-point rate so they are definitely an old school attack-the-rim kind of team. Not only do they not take a lot of 3’s, they’re pretty bad at making them, ranking 27th. As a result they’re second worst in effective field goal percentage.
They also don’t draw a lot of fouls, ranking 27th in free throw rate despite going inside a lot. But they are above average at offensive rebounding, ranking 10th. They muscle up shots in the paint and get putbacks. They average 109 points per game, three points below the league average.
Defensively they excel at defending the 3-point shot, ranking 4th at 33.7%. The Cavs are 2nd in 3-point accuracy at 40.2% so it will be a great 3-point shooting team against a great 3-point defense.
Their defense is solid inside, too, ranking 8th at defending the rim. Their weakness is defending the short mid-range shot where they rank 29th. The Cavs might be able to hit some jump hooks and floaters.
The Hornets’ centers are big; Mason Plumlee, 32, is 6’11”, 254 and Nick Richards is 7’0”, 245. They play 27 and 19 minutes, respectively, and combine for 19 points and 15 boards. If Jarrett Allen can’t go we could have some problems on the defensive glass - these guys combine for 6 of the team’s 12 offensive rebounds per game.
Even without Wade and Allen the Cavs should prevail against a team that has lost 11 of 13, is down to their third string point guard, and is also missing their starting small forward who averages 17.4 points per game. Fortunately, Plumlee and Richards don’t shoot 3’s so we won’t get lit up like Brook Lopez did on Wednesday.
But more important than the numbers and matchups this game comes down to desire. Bickerstaff has called out the players for playing “arrogant basketball” and having a “fat cat mentality”.
“Defense comes down to the effort you’re willing to put in. The second effort. The third effort. The fourth effort. Right now, we don’t have enough guys putting in that second, third and fourth effort.” - JBB after the Bucks’ game
The biggest problem has been playing defense with enough intensity in the first half. The Cavaliers have allowed their opponents to score over 60 points in the first half four of their last five games, and Bickerstaff has made it clear that is not acceptable. The Cavs have the worst defensive rating in the league over the last five games and have been getting torched from deep.
I expect the Cavs to lose the fat cat complacency and come out with a strong defensive effort against a team missing a couple of key players and ranked 27th in offensive efficiency. If they don’t there is going to be some yelling in the locker room at halftime and maybe some lineup changes. It’s clear Bickerstaff has had enough.
“It’s my responsibility to search and find the guys that are most willing to play the way we want to play”. - JBB
