Cavs attempt to bounce back from lopsided loss, host Hornets
Two teams that couldn’t have had much more disappointing results in their last few games will have a chance to put things right Monday night in Cleveland.
THE Charlotte Frelons will arrive to face the Cleveland Cavaliers (43-28), who is coming off Sunday night’s 121-84 road loss against the Miami Heat. Cleveland trailed by 45 points in the fourth quarter, en route to its third straight loss and fourth in five games.
“We’re exhausted,” Cavaliers coach JB Bickerstaff said of the team’s condition. “It’s up to all of us to figure it out. There are no excuses. It can’t be simpler.”
Well, actually, it’s possible: the Hornets will be next for the season opener.
Charlotte (17-53) has played just one game in five days, losing 132-91 Saturday night in Atlanta.
That performance drew a stern response from Hornets coach Steve Clifford, who usually offers an encouraging message even in a season full of losses.
“As soon as we started subbing, our intensity dropped and we never really got it back,” Clifford said. “It was an equally poor effort…just for a team that played hard all year, we just didn’t try very hard. We’re not going to be able to do that.”
This could have contributed to the Hawks draining 20 3-pointers.
Hornets starting forward Miles Bridges was Clifford’s only praise. He made 11 of 19 shots from the field en route to 27 points.
“I thought Miles was very good,” Clifford said. “In terms of effort, it stops there.”
Cleveland may not have had a single player to highlight on the positive side. The team’s leading scorer Sunday was Evan Mobley with 15 points, making him the only Cavalier to reach double figures.
The Cavaliers are experiencing only their third three-game losing streak of the season. The others arrived in October and December, so it’s been quite a while.
Charlotte has lost four in a row, including the first three games of its four-game road trip.
As opponents battle for playoff positioning, the Hornets must discover other incentives.
“That’s what we’ve been good at all year is intensity, and we need to fix that,” Clifford said.
For the Cavaliers, the weekend mess might not be a long-term problem.
“It was unusual,” Bickerstaff said. “We know how hard these guys play, how ready they are to compete. The best thing is you have tomorrow. We had a bad night. We’re going to figure it out and be better (Monday). “
Cleveland’s starters were usually pulled late in the third quarter. This could keep them as fresh as possible.
“We asked these guys to do so much, asked them to carry the burden of everyone having to do more because of all the injuries and things we’re going through,” Bickerstaff said. “I think it showed up and caught up with us.”
The Hornets are 1-8 in their last nine road games.
Monday night’s game will mark the start of a back-to-back between the teams, with the rematch scheduled for Wednesday night in Charlotte. They will also face each other in the regular season finale next month.
–Field level media
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