The Cleveland Cavaliers recently scraped by with a narrow win over the Washington Wizards. They’ll hopefully look sharper against the Charlotte Hornets today. Let’s look at three things to watch.
Hornets Struggles
The Wizards are categorically the worst team in basketball. But the Hornets aren’t too far behind.
Even with fun prospects such as LaMelo Ball and Kon Knueppel, the Hornets rank 23rd in net rating, 19th in offensive rating and 24th on defense. They can’t defend, can’t score, and they don’t win many games.
All signs should point to another Cavs victory.
But things haven’t been that simple this season for the Cavs.
Cleveland should have an advantage in every category. The lack of an elite rim protector or point of attack defender for Charlotte could open the door for the Cavs, who have struggled to generate offense outside of Donovan Mitchell.
Like I said before the last game, this has all the makings of a ‘get right’ game. Now it’s time to actually get right.
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Donovan Mitchell
Mitchell put the team on his back on Friday night. His 48 points aren’t anything to take for granted. But, oddly enough, we’d like to see Mitchell strain himself less often in the regular season.
In other words, it shouldn’t take 48 points to beat the Wizards. As fun as those explosive scoring games are to watch, we want to see other Cavaliers rise to the occasion.
We know how special Mitchell is. And we’ll never downplay his role on the team. But a big scoring game from literally anyone else would be a sight for sore eyes right now.
Can the Cavs wake up?
This is evergreen until further notice.
Every game, we will ask the same question. Are the Cavs going to take this one seriously? Or will they sleepwalk through long stretches?
I hate to reduce our coverage to something so simple. But this is where things currently stand. The single biggest thing holding this team back is their effort and attention to detail. Communication. All of the tiny details that add up to make the big picture.
There is no reason for the Cavs to lose this game if they play with the appropriate energy and focus. Let’s get it done.
