Hornets bench shines in 126-94 victory over the Cavaliers
Jeremy Lamb finished with a season high 19 points to lead Charlotte to victory over Cleveland on Saturday night.
By Stephen Sears Nov 3, 2018, 11:33pm EDT
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Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
Coming off a tough loss on Thursday night to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Charlotte Hornets were able to find their footing against a struggling Cleveland Cavaliers team to bounce back into winning form.
After an abysmal 40.9% shooting performance on Thursday, the Hornets were able to regain their footing - shooting an impressive 56.5% from the field. And although at 33.3% their three-point shooting wasn't the greatest, it was definitely an improvement compared to the 26.8% they shot last game.
Jeremy Lamb led the way for the Hornets in the scoring department with 19 points and 8 rebounds. Kemba Walker followed closely behind with 18 points - shooting 4 of 9 from three and 6 of 12 overall. He also handed out 4 assists and grabbed 5 rebounds - a "quiet" night for his standards.
But the bench was the story tonight. They put on an impressive performance for the home crowd. Malik Monk (+23) led the way in scoring with 16 points and 5 assists. Tony Parker (+23) and Miles Bridges (+26) each tallied 12 points, Willy Hernangomez (+25) finished with 11 and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (+28) added 10 points of his own. It was a true team effort from the Charlotte Hornets.
Cleveland wasn't able to do much offensively. It's clear the loss of LeBron James is haunting them. It's hard to believe that most of this roster competed in the NBA Finals just last season. J.R Smith was their highest scorer with just 14 points and no one on the team posted a positive plus/minus. The Hornets did a great job in the second half of running them off of the three point line and forcing them to take bad shots. Hopefully we can see more of that in the future.
This victory puts the Hornets at 5-5 on the season as they now look to face Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night. Tip-off for that game is at 7:00 p.m.