Cleveland Cavaliers @ Charlotte Hornets
Friday, February 20, 2026 at 7:00 PM ET
Spectrum Center, Charlotte, NC | Game ID: 22500802
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
CHA 20 33 36 24 113CLE 30 29 31 28 118
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Donovan Mitchell scores 32 points as Cavaliers beat Hornets 118-113 for 7th straight victory
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- — Donovan Mitchell scored 13 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter and the streaking Cleveland Cavaliers held off the Charlotte Hornets 118-113 on Friday night for their seventh straight victory and 12th win in 13 games.
Jared Allen had 25 points and 14 rebounds and James Harden added 18 points and eight assists for the Cavaliers.
Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel finished with 33 points on seven 3-pointers, giving him 193 made 3s for the season — the second most in NBA history by a rookie. Keegan Murray holds the record with 206 set in the 2022-23 season.
LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller each had 18 points and rookie Ryan Kalkbrenner added 12 points and 13 rebounds for Charlotte.
Miller's and-one layup off a no-look feed from Ball cut Cleveland's lead to four with a minute remaining, but Mitchell made a short jumper and four free throws in the final 40 seconds to seal the win.
The Cavaliers built a 14-point lead in the second quarter and looked like they were preparing to break the game open, but Knueppel began to heat up, finishing with four 3s and 16 points in the first half to cut Cleveland's lead in to six. Charlotte took the lead late in the third quarter behind three more Knueppel 3s.
But Mitchell began to take over with his physical play. He got to the line 13 times and made 12 free throws.
Charlotte played without suspended forwards Miles Bridges and Moussa Diabate and Grant Williams , who sat out with knee injury management forcing them to play younger, less experienced players in the frontcourt.
The Cavaliers outscored the Hornets 50-28 in the paint.
The Hornets have now lost three of their last four games after winning nine straight games just before the All-Star break.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
CLEDM D. Mitchell
DS D. Schröder
DW D. Wade
JA J. Allen
JH J. Harden
JT J. Tyson
KE K. Ellis
NT N. Tomlin
SM S. Merrill
SC Schroder
TB T. Bryant
CHAAR A. Reeves
BM B. Miller
JG J. Green
KK K. Knueppel
LB L. Ball
PC P. Connaughton
PH P. Hall
RK R. Kalkbrenner
SJ S. James
TM T. Mann
TS T. Salaün
CLE/CHA the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur