The Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t just lose on Sunday night, they authored one of the strangest box scores the NBA can produce. Cleveland had 111 points after regulation, and when the overtime horn finally sounded, the Cavaliers still had 111. In a 119–111 loss to the Charlotte Hornets, the Cavs were held scoreless in the entire five-minute overtime, going 0-for-10 in the extra period.
That kind of drought is rare enough to feel impossible in a league built on spacing and shot-making, and the history backs it up. Cleveland became the 12th team in NBA history to be shut out in overtime, and the first since 2015.
The optics were brutal: a game that reached overtime still within reach, and then a full five minutes where every possession tightened. The Hornets, by contrast, found enough offense in the extra session to turn a toss-up into a comfortable final margin, outscoring Cleveland 8–0 in overtime on the way to the road win.
It’s the kind of night contenders file away as a warning. Not because it reveals who the Cavaliers are at their best, but because it exposes what happens when execution cracks and confidence follows. Cleveland didn’t just come up short, they went silent, and in the NBA, silence is its own kind of statement.
