After dropping two straight games on their four game east coast trip, the Cleveland Cavaliers bounced back in their first ever game in the Golden1 Center, defeating the Kings 120-108.
Losing doesn’t sit well with LeBron James and company as a win in Sacramento was considered a must win for the moral of the Cavaliers. Anytime a top team in the NBA plays a squad looking to get to the top, it’s always a treat to see where the Kings stand amongst the NBA elite.
Despite the loss, DeMarcus Cousins gained the endorsement of James in shoot around. Scoring 26 points while racking up 11 assists and eight rebounds, it’s rest assured that the NBA’s best team still doesn’t have an answer for the All-Star big man.
“He’s the best big man in the game (when asked about Cousins),” said James. “He does not only play in the interior, he can shoot the three and he gets other guys involved at times.”
Takeaways
For the majority of the season, the Kings have had a poor quarter in almost every game played and last night that quarter was the first. Sacramento shot 6-of-23 in the quarter with nine turnovers.
Nine turnovers in a quarter against one of the NBA’s best defenses will cause a hole almost too deep for Sacramento to dig themselves out of every time. Cleveland went into the second quarter with a commanding 32-15 lead and the bleeding did not stop for the Kings.
Cousins would pick up two fouls in the first quarter, which would send him to the bench to preserve him for the later part of the second quarter and for the second half.
At halftime, Cleveland went into the locker room with a 61-43 lead with multiple players in double figures (Love 13), (Irving 11), (Korver 10). Cleveland scored 17 points off of 14 Sacramento turnovers at the half.
Even against one of the NBA’s best defenses in Cleveland, Cousins could not be stopped. The efforts of Tristan Thompson and Channing Frye were no match for Cousins as he went on to record a near triple-double.
The newly acquired Cavalier, Kyle Korver, had his best game in the wine and gold scoring 18 points on 7-of-10 shooing, 4-of-6 from beyond the arc.
Ty Lawson was the difference maker that gave the Kings the spark they needed to have a monstrous third quarter, but even his efforts were not enough to beat the defending champs. Lawson scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
Rudy Gay versus James was a matchup everyone wanted to see and it lived up to the hype. Gay was able to score 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting while going 3-of-3 from deep. Gay played a well-balanced game on Friday night, running in transition, picking his spots from mid range and dribble driving to the basket. He was also effective on the defensive end accumulating four blocks.
Sacramento continues their 7-game home stand on Sunday night against Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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