Hornets snap 17-game skid against LeBron James-led teams

Alec Brzezinski

Hornets snap 17-game skid against LeBron James-led teams image

No Kemba Walker, no problem.

Despite missing their leading scorer, the Hornets beat the Cavaliers 106-97 at home Wednesday. The win ended Charlotte's 17-game losing streak against LeBron James-led teams.

MORE: Classic photos of LeBron James

Jeremy Lin, who started in place of Walker, scored a team-high 24 points with eight assists and five rebounds. Lin's career resurgence has helped the Hornets (24-25) remain in the playoff hunt.

"Kemba, honestly, is irreplaceable. We all know that," Lin said, via NBA.com. "(But) we feel like if everyone can chip in a little bit, we can try to make up for his absence.

"Tonight we were just trying to stay aggressive and take the fight to them."

Playing in just his third game of the season after injuring his shoulder in the preseason, Hornets forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 11 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and held James in check on the defensive end.

"We fought hard, and the bench play in both halves was really good," Charlotte coach Steve Clifford told reporters. "We were much more balanced than we've been. We've won some games where we were good on offense and some where we were really good on defense, but tonight we were good on both."

Kyrie Irving led Cleveland (35-13) with 26 points. Kevin Love scored 12 points and corralled 12 rebounds for the Cavs, who had won five of their first six games after firing coach David Blatt.

Westbrook triple-double

It wasn't just any triple-double, either. Westbrook scored 24 points with a career-high 19 rebounds and 14 assists. The last person to put up that kind of stat line was Larry Bird in the 1981-82 season. This was also Westbrook's third straight triple-double, further proving why he's one of the best players in the league.

Kevin Durant scored a team-high 37 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final seconds, as Oklahoma City won 117-114. Victor Oladipo led the Magic with 37 points and seven rebounds.

Highlights

Nerlens Noel with the thunderous finish:

Marcus Smart hits a smooth 3-pointer to end the first quarter:

J.R. Smith rejects Jeremy Lamb:

Stud of the Night

After scoring 50 points in his last three games combined, Stephen Curry broke out of his mini-slump to score 51 points in the Warriors' 134-121 win against the Wizards. He hit 11 3-pointers, the second time he has done that in his career, and finished one off the NBA single-game record of 12. Curry scored 25 points in the first quarter on 7-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc.

Dud of the Night

Pelicans starting small forward Alonzo Gee finished Wednesday night's 110-97 loss against the Spurs with zero points, zero rebounds, zero assists and zero blocks in just under 18 minutes. Being matched up against Kawhi Leonard is never an easy assignment, but most people do better than this.

A look ahead (all times Eastern)

Knicks (23-28) at Pistons (26-24), 7 p.m. (TNT): Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks could face a Detroit team that's missing shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who left Wednesday's game with a muscle strain in his groin.

Raptors (33-16) at Trail Blazers (24-26), 10 p.m.: Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan can lead Toronto past anyone when they're hot. Their Portland backcourt counterparts, Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, are just as capable.

Alec Brzezinski