*** The month is almost over, and the Cavaliers still haven’t been able to string together consecutive wins in March – including Wednesday night’s 118-111 decision to the Hornets in Charlotte two nights after dropping them at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. After scoring 70 points before intermission, the Cavs went cold in the second stanza, including a 15-point fourth quarter. Darius Garland doubled-up in his second straight game and Cleveland got 37 points off the bench, but Charlotte rookie Brandon Miller led seven Hornets and both teams with 31 points.
*** The Cavaliers took the lead midway through the fourth quarter on Darius Garland’s three-pointer and went up four, 109-105, on his floater less than a minute later. But the Wine & Gold would score just once more – on Caris LeVert’s layup with 3:28 to play. Charlotte scored the game’s final 11 points.
*** Coach J.B. Bickerstaff on Wednesday’s tough loss. “We came out, we played fabulously offensively in the first quarter and just felt like the game was going to come easy to us. We stopped defending in the first quarter, we were lazy in our rotations, we were lazy in our close-outs, we didn’t compete on the ball and allowed them to get to the spots that they wanted to get to. We just weren’t good defensively. We didn’t have the grit that we needed to win a game and it’s disappointing for sure. But we didn’t bring our best effort tonight.”
*** Jarrett Allen led the Cavaliers in the scoring column on Wednesday, finishing with 24 points on 11-of-14 shooting, leading Cleveland with eight boards to go with three assists and a steal.
*** Two games after Evan Mobley made his return to the starting lineup, Max Strus rejoined the starting five on Wednesday after a 12-game absence with a right knee injury. And the 5th-year man came back with a vengeance – tallying 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, adding four boards and a pair of steals in the loss.
*** Strus was brutally honest following the loss. “We just didn’t play hard. It’s a really bad loss for us. Nobody wanted to play defense tonight and that was our problem. It was really up to the first team to get stops and nobody really chose to do that tonight. They outscored us, and they ended up scoring more points than us and we lost.”
*** Darius Garland tallied his second straight double-double against Charlotte – leading both teams with 12 assists two nights after handing out 10 in Monday’s win in Cleveland. On Wednesday night, Garland chipped in 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting, adding five boards and a steal.
*** Sam Merrill is closing out his fourth season in style – netting double-figures off the bench for the seventh time in his last eight outings, leading all reserves with 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting from deep, adding three boards, two assists and a steal in 24 minutes of work. Over that eight-game stretch, Merrill is averaging 11.1ppg on 42 percent from three-point range. Since Dec. 8, Merrill has hit more triples (124) than any reserve in the NBA.
*** Merrill lamented Wednesday’s loss and the subpar defensive effort. “Obviously, our defense was pretty bad for three quarters. They tried to spread us out and drive us, and we didn’t have what we needed to have, specifically in those first three quarters. To do that in the NBA, you’re probably going to get beat.”
*** Looking to be the only Cavalier to play in every game this season, Georges Niang continued his outstanding late-season run as well – finishing with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor, 4-of-5 from long-range in 24 minutes off the bench on Wednesday. Over his last 12 games, Niang is averaging 13.8 points per, shooting 53 percent from the floor, 47 percent from deep. Over those dozen games, he’s tallied double-figure scoring in all but two.
*** Tristan Thompson logged just over four minutes off the bench on Wednesday night, but it did mark his 662nd appearance as a Cavalier – passing Hot Rod Williams and into sole possession of 5th on the all-time list. Next up, at No. 4, is Bingo Smith (720).
*** Caris LeVert led all reserves with eight assists on Wednesday, the 12th time in his last 16 games with at least seven helpers. Over that 16-game stretch, LeVert is averaging exactly 8.0 assists per.
*** The Cavaliers have nine games remaining in the regular season – the first of four remaining home games, a Friday night visit from Tyrese Maxey and the Sixers – followed by the final five on the road, beginning with an Easter Sunday matchup with the World Champs in Denver. From there, the Wine and Gold travel to Utah, Phoenix and L.A. for a back-to-back with the Lakers and Clippers.