In the lone matchup tipping off at 7:00 p.m. ET tonight, the Cleveland Cavaliers will face off with the Charlotte Hornets.
This will make the third of four matchups between these two Eastern Conference opponents this season. They first faced off on December 14th, which resulted in a 119-111 victory by the Cavaliers in overtime. They played again one week later, in which the Cavaliers produced a victory of their own, winning 139-132.
Looking at the odds for tonight, the Cavaliers are 3.5-point favorites and hold -148 odds on the moneyline on DraftKings Sportsbook. The Hornets hold +124 odds of winning in their own right, with the game total set at 237.5 points.
This article will look at a preview and prediction for the Wednesday night matchup.
Cavaliers at Hornets Preview
It has not been a smooth season for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The bar of expectation was set high following their Eastern Conference-leading 64-18 record last season. But Cleveland has limped to a 24-20 start to the season, and sits in seventh place in the Eastern Conference this year. They are 4-4 across their last eight games. On the season, Cleveland has gone a league-worst 15-29 against the spread, and the game total has gone under in 23 of the 44 games played.
Darius Garland is back on the injury report and will miss tonight’s matchup with another toe injury. Sam Merrill and Max Strus will also miss the matchup. Donovan Mitchell has played at an All-Star level despite the lack of team success. Mitchell is averaging 29.0 points, 5.7 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per game. It has been an inconsistent season for Evan Mobley, who posts overall averages of 17.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists. Jarrett Allen remains a key part of the team, while De’Andre Hunter has started to find his stride after a tough start to the year, and Jaylon Tyson has emerged as a key member of the rotation. Nae-Qwan Tomlin and Tyrese Proctor have also emerged as impact rotational players.
Cleveland is scoring 119.6 points per game, which is the fourth-most in the NBA. They also rank 10th in offensive rating, 15th in field goal percentage, 15th in three-point percentage, and sixth in pace. Defensively, opponents are scoring 117.8 points per game, which ranks 21st in the league. The Cavaliers also rank 15th in defensive rating, 14th in opponents’ field goal percentage, and dead last in opponents’ three-point percentage allowed.
The Charlotte Hornets hold a more optimistic outlook than has been the case in quite some time, with several members of their young core showing encouraging strides forward in their development. They hold a 16-27 record on the season, which slots them at 12th place in the conference. However, they are 5-4 in their last nine and coming off a commanding 110-87 victory over the Nuggets. Charlotte is 25-18 against the spread this year, and the game total has gone under in 25 of their 43 games played.
Mason Plumlee and KJ Simpson will miss tonight’s matchup, while Tidjane Salaun is probable with an Achilles issue. LaMelo Ball still headlines the production, although he has seen his workload scaled back a bit this season. The former third-overall pick is averaging 19.9 points, 7.6 assists, and 5.0 rebounds on the year. This year’s fourth overall pick, Kon Knueppel, adds 19.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.6 assists, while shooting 43.5% from beyond the three-point arc. Brandon Miller is posting averages of 19.8 points and 4.3 rebounds. Miles Bridges adds 19.1 points of his own, while Collin Sexton is also averaging in double figures. Ryan Kalkbrenner and Moussa Diabate round out most of the production at the big man spots.
As a team, the Hornets are averaging 116.4 points per game, which ranks 16th in the league. The Hornets rank eighth in offensive rating, 23rd in field goal percentage, fifth in three-point percentage, and 25th in pace. Defensively, opponents are scoring 116.4 points, which ranks 17th in the league. Charlotte also ranks 23rd in defensive rating, 24th in opponents’ field goal percentage, and 29th in opponents’ three-point percentage.
Cavaliers at Hornets Prediction, Best Bet
The Cavaliers have been a tough team to project this season, with a wide variance of what they look like on a night-to-night basis. These teams are 1-1 against each other on the season, although Charlotte fell short of covering the spread in both games. Cleveland failed to cover the 12.5-point spread in the first matchup and then lost outright after being 9.5-point favorites in the second game.
Expect this trend to continue in what is a bad matchup for this Cavaliers’ team. Charlotte is dependent on a high volume of looks from the perimeter for their offense. They rank fifth in the league in three-point volume and fifth in three-point percentage, connecting on 37.2% of these long-range looks. Cleveland ranks dead last in three-point percentage allowed to opponents and 24th in made three-pointers allowed per game.
The Hornets are playing some of their best basketball of late and are coming off a 23-point victory over the Nuggets. They also picked up an impressive victory over the Lakers, and scored 150 points against the Jazz over their past five games. Lineups with Ball, Knueppel, Miller, and Bridges provide plenty of size and floor spacing, which this Cleveland team will struggle against. Expect the Hornets to be able to push the scoring to a level the Cavaliers cannot match, especially without Darius Garland on the floor.
With momentum on their side and a key matchup advantage, look for the Hornets to pick up the victory tonight. Expect Charlotte to push to take an advance in the season series, and move to 3-0 against the speed against Cleveland this year with an outright victory tonight.
