Five Keys: Cavaliers at Hornets

With his fifth assist Monday night against Orlando, James pulled into the elite company of Robertson, the legendary “Big O”, who finished with 26,710 points and 9,887 assists. Guard Kemba Walker led the Hornets with 18 points.

“All I care about is winning”, James said. “I feel like that’s what I’m here for, that’s what Masai (Ujiri) and Coach Casey brought me here for and if I get an opportunity to score like I did in the Clippers game, I’ll do it”.

The Cavaliers victory saw them improve to 11-3 for the season, the best Eastern Conference record this year.

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Greg Monroe had 20 points and 13 rebounds in his first game against his former team, leading the Bucks to the victory.

After James addressed the media, he walked over to Jones, Kevin Love, Williams and J.R. Smith and began breaking down their defensive shortcomings very animatedly. Tyler Johnson scored 12, and Hassan Whiteside had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The story of the night, though, was James joining Robertson. “That’s an wonderful, awesome accomplishment”.

Added Love: “Quietly, the East has been very good this year”. Considering not only the two stars’ performances, but also those of Smith, Thompson, Dellavedova the last few games, Cleveland should not find this game too stressful.

The Magic’s defense appeared to be a rotation short all night, failing to not only slow down the Cavaliers hot shooters. but the best player on the planet in James. “Save for the great talent, those guys all play for one common goal, and that is to win”.

“Amazingly, he looks the same”, Skiles said. “Except maybe his hairline”. Asked if they can fix it as a group, James said, “We have to”. “We were sort of running alongside the game in the first half”.

November 17 v Toronto: Connected on five three-pointers en route to 37 points and added nine assists in a 115-110 win over the Raptors. The power forward was 10-for-14 from the field in the first half, including 5-for-6 on 3-pointers. It does not take a math major to calculate that the Hornets managed four points the rest of the way (Walker jumper at 3:56, Jeremy Lamb jumper at 1:00). While the Warriors seem to be in a position to perhaps become the second team to reach the 70-win threshold, LeBron’s Cavs – despite being an impressive 11-4 – don’t seem to be playing on that level.

Said Blatt: “Kevin just delivered time after time, doing what he knows how to do”.

“You’re speaking about such rarified air…”

The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Philadelphia 100-95 to keep the 76ers winless this season after Andrew Wiggins scored 17 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter.

The Cavaliers’ 117 points are the highest point total the Magic have given up in a non-overtime game this season, and the Cavs made 53.1 percent of their shots.