The Cleveland Cavaliers joined a fantastic foursome of NBA clubs that began their season 15–0 with a 128–114 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.
With the win, Cleveland joined the 1948-49 Washington Capitols (15-0), 1993-94 Houston Rockets (15-0) and 2015-16 Golden State Warriors (24-0). All three of those teams eventually finished the season in the NBA Finals, but only the Rockets won the championship.
The Cavs played without leading scorer Donovan Mitchell, who was kept out of the game for rest, according to the NBA injury report. Mitchell is averaging 24.6 points and shooting 42% on 3-pointers this season.
Ty Jerome took Mitchell’s place in the starting lineup and continued the great play he’s contributed to the second unit, scoring 24 points (shooting 4 for 7 from 3) with eight assists.
“Ty’s played great. He’s earned that,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson explained before the game. “Complete confidence. He gives us another ballhandler too. It’s more about him playing great on both ends right now.”
Darius Garland led the Cavs with 25 points and 12 assists. Evan Mobley tallied 23 points and 11 rebounds, while Jarrett Allen scored 21 points with 15 rebounds, taking advantage of their size advantage in the frontcourt over the Hornets. Both Garland and Allen hit nine free throws.
Wearing their powder blue City Edition uniforms, the Cavs ran out to a strong start, outscoring Charlotte 38–28 in the first quarter behind Jerome’s 10 points. Cleveland went into the half with a 72–59 lead.
However, the Hornets relentlessly fired 3-pointers and that got them back into the game during the third quarter, closing the margin to 82–79 and keeping the game competitive throughout the second half. For the game, Charlotte took 52 3-point shots, hitting 39% of them.
Fresh off being fined $100,000 by the NBA for using an anti-gay term during a postgame interview, LaMelo Ball led the Hornets with 31 points and 12 assists (shooting 5 for 15 from 3).
Miles Bridges followed with 19 points (4 of 8 on 3s), eight rebounds and eight assists. Josh Green, Brandon Miller (3 for 12 on 3s) and Grant Williams each added 15 for Charlotte, whose record dropped to 5–8 for the season.
The Cavs face the toughest test of their opening 15 games on Tuesday versus the 11–3 Boston Celtics at TD Garden. The teams met in the playoffs last season with Boston winning the Eastern Conference semifinal series, 4-1.
