Charlotte Shoots 51%, But Turnovers and Fouls Ignite Cleveland’s 2nd-Half Comeback
Too many turnovers and too much fouling down the stretch washed away the Charlotte Hornets’ 16-point third-quarter lead on Sunday evening, leaving them with a tough 114-108 home loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Terry Rozier poured in a team-high 27 points on 10-of-19 shooting, four rebounds, six assists and four steals in the loss, marking his highest single-game scoring total since Feb. 13. This was also Rozier’s seventh 20-point game in eight outings, an outburst the Hornets really needed with Kelly Oubre Jr. (back discomfort) scratched from the lineup shortly before tipoff in this one.
A 25-6 first-quarter run helped the Hornets get out to an early 14-point lead, before eight second-quarter turnovers made it a 59-52 game at half in favor of Charlotte. The Hornets would go back up by 16 in the third, but the Cavaliers rallied again and then some with a 34-11 stretch to pull ahead, 107-100, with 4:05 remaining in the fourth.
Charlotte responded with an 8-2 span to make it a one-point game, but Donovan Mitchell dropped in a 12-foot floater to bump the Cavaliers’ lead back to three. After Rozier missed a game-tying attempt, Darius Garland got the benefit of the doubt on a shooting foul that was challenged and upheld with 11 seconds left. He would split the free throws, all but sealing the contest for Cleveland.
“We struggled tonight when we broke the lineup, obviously,” said Hornets Head Coach Steve Clifford afterwards. “It’s hard to get to 48 minutes sometimes when you’ve got that many guys out. In the fourth quarter, [the Cavaliers] were terrific. That team right there, they can be a factor in this whole thing. That’s a great team. We played our [butts] off. We had the three turnovers [late in the fourth] that were critical.”
PJ Washington (19 points), Gordon Hayward (16), Nick Richards (15) and Dennis Smith Jr. (14) were also in double figures for Charlotte, with Richards adding game highs in rebounds (12) and blocks (three) for his second double-double in three appearances. Charlotte got outscored in bench points, 32-17, had 19 turnovers leading to 29 Cleveland points and took 12 fewer free-throw attempts than the Cavaliers (34-22).
“Turnovers and fouls, that’s just what it boiled down to,” added Smith. “I don’t think it’s anything more complex than that. It was just turnovers and fouls. A lot of them were unforced, just bad plays, and we still fouled a lot, too. We had a couple guys with four fouls, five fouls and that doesn’t help. Collectively, we’ve got to be better than that with turnovers and fouls.”
Cleveland got 20-point showings from both Garland (28) and Mitchell (23), with Evan Mobley tallying 18 points and nine rebounds to narrowly miss a double-double. Caris LeVert scored 15 off the bench – two less than the Hornets’ reserves combined – to help the Cavaliers notch a fourth win in the past five head-to-head meetings with Charlotte.
The Hornets will get to face the Cavaliers again back at Spectrum Center on Tuesday, March 14 beginning at 7 PM ET. Follow all the action on Bally Sports Southeast and WFNZ 92.7 FM.
