Evan Mobley had a huge first quarter on the way to a career-high 41 points as the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers held off the Charlotte Hornets for a 116-102 victory Saturday afternoon.
Mobley, who finished with six 3-point baskets on 16-for-23 shooting from the field, had 23 points in Cleveland’s 40-18 first-quarter domination. With five 3s in the quarter, he set his career-high mark for 3s in a game. He was 9-for-10 from the field and perfect on 3-pointers.
In the opening half, Mobley’s five 3-pointers were one fewer than Charlotte’s team total of 3s.
Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell both posted 18 points and Jarrett Allen tallied 11 points and 10 rebounds as Cleveland built a four-game winning streak.
Brandon Miller racked up 25 points, DaQuan Jeffries added 17 points off the bench and Josh Green had 16 points for the injury-riddled Hornets, who’ve lost eight consecutive games. Charlotte couldn’t overcome 11-for-39 shooting on 3-pointers. Vasilije Micic had 13 points and seven assists, and Mark Williams was 5-for-5 from the floor for part of his 12 points.
Jeffries, a guard in his fourth NBA game of the season, ended one point shy of his career-high total on 7-for-11 shooting with three 3s. He has played in 66 games across parts of six seasons.
The Hornets cut the gap to 104-100 before Garland’s floater and two close-range deliveries from Mobley. Mitchell’s 3-pointer pushed the lead to 113-100.
Mobley, who finished with 10 rebounds and three blocked shots, wasn’t done as he connected on a final long-range launch.
The Hornets showed they would stick around by using a 12-4 stretch midway through the third quarter to close within 84-74. The gap dipped to 90-83 before Mitchell’s 3-pointer for the last basket of the third quarter.
Charlotte, which fell to 0-2 against the Cavaliers, had a slow start and ended sluggishly on offense with 19 fourth-quarter points.
Cleveland has won five of its last six visits to Charlotte.
–Field Level Media