On a night when LeBron James did not have his best shooting performance, the supporting cast stepped up to earn a 100-93 win over the Charlotte Hornets.
It was a back and forth contest for three quarters and the Cavs started to pull away early in the fourth, thanks to clutch baskets from Iman Shumpert, Channing Frye and Richard Jefferson, which put Cleveland ahead by eight points with 5:43 remaining.
The Cavs led comfortably from that point going forward to the final buzzer.
LeBron finished with 19 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists, shooting 8-of-21 from the field.
Much of the credit for LeBron’s rough shooting night has to go to Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Nicolas Batum, who had the unenviable duty of guarding the four-time MVP and did about as excellent a job as one could expect.
Kevin Love scored 17 points, but nearly all of his damage came in the first quarter, when he scored 15 points. He also grabbed 11 rebounds, posting his sixth double-double in nine games.
Kyrie Irving finished with 19 points.
Kemba Walker scored 21 in the loss, as Charlotte falls to 6-3 on the season.
This evening we have a special edition of the RolePlayer of the Game Award, as we have two Co-RolePlayers of the Game: Shumpert and Frye.
Shumpert scored 15 points off the bench, knocking down 3-of-5 three-pointers.
Frye hit 6-of-12 from beyond-the-arc, scoring a team-high 20 points.
The Cavs improve to 8-1 with the win and are back in action Tuesday night against the Toronto Raptors.
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