The Cleveland Cavaliers and Charlotte Hornets are both slumping, but they\u2019ll have a chance to get rolling when they meet Monday night in Charlotte.<\/p>\n
The matchup will be the first stop on Cleveland\u2019s three-game road trip. The Cavaliers have lost three of their last four games.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a tough league, tough schedule,\u201d Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. \u201c… We\u2019ve got three on the road coming up; got to bounce back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hornets have lost six games in a row, so having a two-day layoff without a game might be helpful after Friday night\u2019s 119-80 home blowout loss to the Boston Celtics.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, you\u2019re in a little bit in a storm,\u201d Hornets coach Charles Lee said. \u201cWe got to band together a little bit more. We have to continue to work at even a higher rate. In these moments, you grow even stronger, you learn about yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donovan Mitchell has led the Cavaliers in scoring in the past four games, including a season-high 37 points in Saturday\u2019s 109-97 home loss to the New York Knicks in a rematch of last spring\u2019s Eastern Conference finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t help that the shots weren\u2019t falling,\u201d Atkinson said of the Cavaliers\u2019 bid for a comeback.<\/p>\n
Naz Reid has led Charlotte in scoring in back-to-back games, but that included just 14 points in the Boston game.<\/p>\n
Of significance, Hornets swingman Brandon Miller left in the second quarter because of what team officials described as right groin soreness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll have more information on Monday,\u201d Lee said, adding that the weekend off might afford time for Miller to recover.<\/p>\n
Grayson Allen and Ryan Kalkbrenner joined the Charlotte starting lineup for the first time this season on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike we said coming into the year, it was going to be by committee, and we had to commit to everything that was going to go out and embrace every day of our journey,\u201d Lee said. \u201cThis is part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee has presented an optimistic outlook.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt some point, I know we\u2019re on the verge of a breakthrough,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know how to get through it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hornets are shooting 28.8 percent from 3-point range, second-worst in the NBA. That\u2019s not a signal to pull back on some of the long-range launches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mindset is still to find the best uncontested shot we can get,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n
On the flip side, the Cavaliers have made 15.4 3-pointers per game, second in the NBA behind the Golden State Warriors\u2019 16 per game. Cleveland took 50 of its 82 field goal attempts against the Knicks from behind the arc, with seven players attempting four or more 3s.<\/p>\n
Atkinson said the Cavaliers need to respond after a dismal rebounding performance vs. New York.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to find a way to rebound better collectively,\u201d Atkinson said.<\/p>\n
Mitchell\u2019s offense isn\u2019t the only area where he\u2019s contributing for Cleveland. That was evident against the Knicks.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was competing at a high level at the defensive end, too,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cHe kept after it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cleveland is 1-3 on the road this season. The Cavaliers have won their last four visits to Charlotte.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 Field Level Media. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published November 8, 2026 at 12:04 PM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Cavaliers and Charlotte Hornets are both slumping, but they\u2019ll have a chance to get rolling when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":957565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-957564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=957564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/957565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=957564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=957564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=957564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}