Nick Smith Jr. scored a season-high 24 points and Steve Clifford won his coaching farewell as the Charlotte Hornetsrallied to beat the playoff-bound Cleveland Cavaliers 120-110 on Sunday.
Max Strus had 14 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists for his first career triple-double for Cleveland, which rested All-Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, point guard Darius Garlandand sixth man Caris LeVert.
The Cavaliers finished fourth in the East and will have home-court advantage against the Orlando Magic in the first round of the playoffs. They locked up a top-four finish Friday by beating Indiana, but lost 12 of their final 19 regular-season games to wind up 48-34.
“Orlando is a young team and they’re going to be fighting for a lot, so we have to come in with the mentality to throw the first punch,” Cleveland center Jarrett Allen said. “We need to lock in, watch our film and do everything we can to prepare for the playoffs.”
Georges Niang scored 16 points, Allen posted 14 points and seven rebounds, and Evan Mobleyhad 14 points for Cleveland. Allen made all seven of his field goal attempts and went 20 of 21 from the field over the final two games.
Cavaliers forward Pete Nance — the son of former All-Star Larry Nance and brother of Pelicans center Larry Nance Jr. — made a 3-pointer for his first points in the NBA. Second-year pro Isaiah Mobley scored 11 and Craig Porter Jr. started at point guard before spraining his left ankle.
“The safety of our guys was the most important thing, so we stuck to our plan of giving the guys who play typical minutes for us no more than the first three quarters,” Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We wanted to give our younger players some unique experiences today, and we did that.”
JT Thor had a career-high 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Hornets, who ended the game on an 18-2 run and finished with the third-worst record in the East at 21-61. Bryce McGowens had 18 points and Marques Boldenadded 14 points and four blocked shots.
Niang became the first Cavaliers player to appear in all 82 games since LeBron James in 2017-2018.
The Cavaliers will next begin postseason play as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. Cleveland will face the No. 5 seed Orlando Magic in the first round of the playoffs with a date and time to be announced at a later date.