Charlotte Hornets next up for sizzling Cleveland Cavaliers
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Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley drives to the basket during the second half at Rocket Arena.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CHARLOTTE – The Cleveland Cavaliers are cruising along at a rapid pace with a 12-game National Basketball Association (NBA) winning streak, so their next game might not even look like a speed bump.
They have a road assignment against the Charlotte Hornets on March 7 (March 8, Singapore time).
The goal for Cleveland, who became the first team to clinch a play-off berth on March 5, will be to maintain their crisp level of play.
“It seems like everything has gone our way this year,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Is there some luck? Sure there is because it’s so hard to win in the NBA. We have had some fortune.”
The league-leading Cavaliers (52-10) are looking at the big picture, so there is more work ahead.
“It’s a sign of our hard work as a group,” guard Donovan Mitchell said of the earliest the franchise have ever qualified for the post-season. “But it’s just another step on our journey, we’ve got a lot more to accomplish.”
The Cavaliers and Hornets, who are mired in an eight-game losing streak, sure have different outlooks at this time of the season. It is not nearly as rosy for the Hornets, who are 14th out of 15 in the Eastern Conference.
“We just got to continue to stick with it,” Charlotte coach Charles Lee said. “The team continues to fight, but on every possession, we have to continue to fight and not have these long lulls during the game.”
Many of the team’s breakdowns in communication appear to be happening on defence. Those are particularly evident early in games as opponents tend to rack up sizeable leads.
But the shortcomings exist on the other end of the court as well.
“I do think it’s our lack of conversion on offence sometimes,” Lee added. “We let a missed lay-up or a transition turnover affect us too much, and then it hurts our defensive side of the ball.”
The Cavaliers have won all three previous meetings with Charlotte. The closest margin in those games was in the most recent matchup – 115-105 on Jan 5 in Cleveland.
Meanwhile, in NBA action on March 6, the Boston Celtics (45-18) maintained their pursuit of the Cavaliers at the top of the East after cruising past an injury-depleted Philadelphia 76ers 123-105 at home.
Jayson Tatum led the rout for Boston with 35 points, while the in-form Payton Pritchard came up big from the bench with 19 points.
Elsewhere, Luka Doncic scored five of his 32 points in overtime and LeBron James added 31 points as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied to extend their winning streak to eight games by beating the visiting New York Knicks 113-109.
The Lakers (40-21) are second in the West, behind the Oklahoma City Thunder (51-11). REUTERS, AFP
