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118

Charlotte Hornets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

February 20, 2026 · 2025-26 season

The Cavaliers beat the Hornets 118-113 on 2026-02-20 on the road against the Hornets. The Hornets started LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Ryan Kalkbrenner, Kon Knueppel, and Sion James. The Cavaliers started James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen, Dean Wade, and Sam Merrill. Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers) scored 36 points (10/17) in his matchups, with Kon Knueppel as his primary defender. LaMelo Ball (Hornets) scored 14 points (5/8) in his matchups, with Sam Merrill as his primary defender.

Box score

In orange, the game high in points, rebounds and assists.

CHA

Charlotte Hornets 113

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Kon Knueppel GS	37:04	33	6	2	1	0	0	4	11-20	7-15	4-5	+2
Ryan Kalkbrenner GS	35:51	12	13	1	0	1	0	2	5-7	0-0	2-2	+12
Sion James GS	29:43	5	6	7	3	1	0	1	1-2	1-2	2-2	+5
LaMelo Ball GS	27:00	18	2	6	0	0	2	4	4-17	2-10	8-8	+6
Brandon Miller GS	23:29	18	2	4	0	1	5	4	6-19	4-12	2-2	+1
Pat Connaughton	19:53	5	5	1	0	0	2	1	2-3	1-2	0-0	-5
Josh Green	19:48	11	2	2	1	1	0	0	3-7	2-6	3-3	-4
Tidjane Salaün	16:57	3	4	0	0	0	0	3	1-7	1-6	0-0	-15
Tre Mann	12:37	3	1	2	0	0	3	3	1-4	1-1	0-0	-9
PJ Hall	11:34	2	4	1	0	0	1	1	1-3	0-0	0-0	-13
Antonio Reeves	5:48	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	1-3	1-2	0-0	-3
Xavier Tillman	0:16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	-2
Totals		113	45	26	5	4	14	23	36-92	20-56	21-22

Did not play: Miles Bridges (DND_LEAGUE_SUSPENSION), Moussa Diabaté (DND_LEAGUE_SUSPENSION)

CLE

Cleveland Cavaliers 118

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
James Harden GS	34:22	18	4	8	1	0	2	3	6-14	2-3	4-4	+3
Donovan Mitchell GS	34:18	32	3	4	2	0	3	5	9-22	2-7	12-13	-4
Jarrett Allen GS	32:04	26	14	2	0	1	1	0	11-15	0-0	4-5	-2
Dean Wade GS	26:01	8	4	0	1	0	0	2	3-3	2-2	0-0	-16
Sam Merrill GS	24:16	10	2	2	0	0	0	3	4-6	2-4	0-0	-14
Keon Ellis	23:44	4	4	3	2	1	1	3	2-2	0-0	0-0	+19
Dennis Schröder	20:04	8	0	3	3	0	2	0	2-4	0-1	4-4	+16
Jaylon Tyson	16:42	5	1	0	0	0	1	1	2-4	1-2	0-0	+14
Thomas Bryant	15:42	2	5	1	1	1	2	1	1-4	0-0	0-0	+5
Nae'Qwan Tomlin	12:47	5	2	1	0	0	0	3	1-3	1-2	2-2	+4
Totals		118	39	24	10	3	12	21	41-77	10-21	26-28

Did not play: Darius Brown (DNP - Coach's Decision), Tristan Enaruna (DNP - Coach's Decision), Larry Nance Jr. (DNP - Coach's Decision), Craig Porter Jr. (DNP - Coach's Decision), Tyrese Proctor (DNP - Coach's Decision)

Lineups

CHA

Charlotte Hornets

Starting lineup

The 5 most-used lineups:

LaMelo Ball · Brandon Miller · Ryan Kalkbrenner · Kon Knueppel · Sion James Starter 12.4 min
LaMelo Ball · Tre Mann · Ryan Kalkbrenner · Tidjane Salaün · Kon Knueppel 5.3 min
Brandon Miller · Ryan Kalkbrenner · Tidjane Salaün · Kon Knueppel · Sion James 4.1 min
Pat Connaughton · Josh Green · Tre Mann · PJ Hall · Antonio Reeves 3.9 min
Pat Connaughton · LaMelo Ball · Ryan Kalkbrenner · Tidjane Salaün · Kon Knueppel 3.8 min

CLE

Cleveland Cavaliers

Starting lineup

The 5 most-used lineups:

James Harden · Donovan Mitchell · Jarrett Allen · Dean Wade · Sam Merrill Starter 20.4 min
Dennis Schröder · Donovan Mitchell · Thomas Bryant · Keon Ellis · Jaylon Tyson 7.2 min
Dennis Schröder · Donovan Mitchell · Thomas Bryant · Keon Ellis · Nae'Qwan Tomlin 6.4 min
James Harden · Dennis Schröder · Jarrett Allen · Keon Ellis · Jaylon Tyson 3.5 min
James Harden · Jarrett Allen · Keon Ellis · Nae'Qwan Tomlin · Jaylon Tyson 3.3 min

Who guarded whom

Based on stats.nba.com matchup data. Points and shooting are always the offensive player's.

Hornets defense

Donovan Mitchell 36 pts (10/17) in 64 possessions

Guarded by: Kon Knueppel (15 %, 13 pts) · Sion James (15 %, 2 pts) · Tidjane Salaün (13 %, 0 pts)
James Harden 18 pts (6/16) in 62 possessions

Guarded by: Sion James (25 %, 3 pts) · Brandon Miller (15 %, 6 pts) · Kon Knueppel (14 %, 7 pts)

Defender	Guarded most
Kon Knueppel	Dean Wade: 16 poss., 5 pts (2/3) · Sam Merrill: 15 poss., 3 pts (1/5)
Ryan Kalkbrenner	Jarrett Allen: 38 poss., 4 pts (2/4) · Thomas Bryant: 10 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Sion James	James Harden: 16 poss., 3 pts (1/2) · Donovan Mitchell: 10 poss., 2 pts (0/0)
Brandon Miller	Keon Ellis: 11 poss., 0 pts (0/2) · James Harden: 10 poss., 6 pts (2/5)
LaMelo Ball	Sam Merrill: 8 poss., 2 pts (0/2) · Dean Wade: 8 poss., 0 pts (0/1)
Pat Connaughton	Donovan Mitchell: 8 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Keon Ellis: 6 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Josh Green	Jaylon Tyson: 10 poss., 0 pts (0/1) · Donovan Mitchell: 7 poss., 6 pts (2/2)
Tidjane Salaün	Donovan Mitchell: 9 poss., 0 pts (0/2) · James Harden: 7 poss., 0 pts (0/1)
Tre Mann	Dennis Schröder: 7 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Nae'Qwan Tomlin: 5 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
PJ Hall	Thomas Bryant: 11 poss., 0 pts (0/1) · Jarrett Allen: 6 poss., 2 pts (1/1)
Antonio Reeves	Keon Ellis: 4 poss., 0 pts (0/1) · Dennis Schröder: 3 poss., 3 pts (1/1)
Xavier Tillman

Cavaliers defense

LaMelo Ball 14 pts (5/8) in 48 possessions

Guarded by: Sam Merrill (27 %, 5 pts) · Keon Ellis (20 %, 0 pts) · Dean Wade (15 %, 0 pts)
Brandon Miller 10 pts (3/5) in 41 possessions

Guarded by: Dean Wade (33 %, 5 pts) · Keon Ellis (14 %, 0 pts) · Sam Merrill (13 %, 0 pts)

Defender	Guarded most
Donovan Mitchell	Kon Knueppel: 27 poss., 10 pts (3/8) · Pat Connaughton: 8 poss., 2 pts (0/2)
James Harden	Sion James: 26 poss., 3 pts (1/5) · Tidjane Salaün: 8 poss., 4 pts (1/3)
Jarrett Allen	Ryan Kalkbrenner: 35 poss., 18 pts (8/11) · Sion James: 5 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Dean Wade	Brandon Miller: 14 poss., 5 pts (2/2) · Josh Green: 8 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Sam Merrill	LaMelo Ball: 13 poss., 5 pts (2/2) · Kon Knueppel: 9 poss., 0 pts (0/1)
Keon Ellis	LaMelo Ball: 10 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Brandon Miller: 6 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Dennis Schröder	Josh Green: 7 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Tre Mann: 7 poss., 2 pts (0/0)
Thomas Bryant	PJ Hall: 11 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Tidjane Salaün: 8 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Jaylon Tyson	Pat Connaughton: 9 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Josh Green: 8 poss., 0 pts (0/2)
Nae'Qwan Tomlin	Ryan Kalkbrenner: 8 poss., 0 pts (0/1) · Tidjane Salaün: 4 poss., 2 pts (0/0)