NBA Matchups: November 1

Cleveland Cavaliers at Charlotte Hornets (back end)

Team Totals: Cavaliers 107.8, Hornets 112.8

Injury Report: Isaac Okoro (O, hamstring), Hornets haven’t submitted yet

Cavaliers projected starters: Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen

Hornets projected starters: LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward, Miles Bridges, Mason Plumlee

Bickerstaff quotes: Said transition killed them against the Suns, said the B2B against the Suns was a factor, said Cedi played well enough on Saturday to earn more minutes, said they struggled in PNR defense against the Lakers’ offense, said Mobley “has the keys” and just needs to learn more on the offensive end.

Borrego quotes: Said P.J. Washington looked good and is a major factor for their offense, said their first unit has to get off to a better start, said he liked how the starters played again after some rough stretches, said Oubre looked very comfortable in a very long stretch on Sunday, said they played up in the PNR against Dame and C.J. (they usually don’t).

Stats and Notes: 

*We get a major clash in styles as the Hornets have the fastest offensive pace off opponent makes on the other end, and the Cavs have the slowest offense at 15.2 seconds per possession. The Cavaliers’ defense has been extremely prone to transition with an NBA-high 22.9 transition possessions allowed per game, so the Hornets should be in their comfort zone. The Cavs are also giving up a ton of at-rim shots to bigs, as they’ve allowed the most shots in the league to centers and to teams overall, so there are a lot of ways the Hornets can control this game. For the second year in a row, the Hornets are getting beat up from deep with a third-ranked 20.2 wide-open trey attempts per game.