Kings Outlast Cavs In Rare Home Court Loss For Cleveland

The Sacramento Kings defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers with a final score of 106-95.

Tommy Wild | Dec 9, 2022

Kings Outlast Cavs In Rare Home Court Loss For Cleveland /

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Friday night's matchup against the Cavs and Kings was destined to be a close one. Cleveland has the best defense at home and Sacramento has one of the most efficient offenses in the NBA. Something was going to have to give and the matchup didn't disappoint.

In the end, it was the Kings who came out on top with a final score of 106-95.

Watch the postgame press conference featuring head coach J.B. Bickerstaff here:

The Kings climbed out to a 15-point lead in the first half but the Cavs came back to tie the game at 49 heading into halftime. This was in large part thanks to Cleveland outscoring Sacramento 29 to 18 in the second quarter.

From that point on it was back and forth until the Kings went on a 19-0 run at the end of the game.

Cleveland let Demantas Sabonis live in the paint against them. He finished the game with 18 points and 19 rebounds. Even though Jarrett Allen didn't foul out, he couldn't have gotten any closer. He ended the game with five fouls so he had to give a little bit when guarding Sabonis.

The Kings also couldn't miss from the field along with commanding the inside. They finished the game shooting 48 percent from three and 53 percent from the field. The Cavs just couldn't keep up with this efficiency.

Yes, Cleveland was without Donovan Mitchell so they were going to need to find scoring from other members of the offense. But Sacramento was also without one of their star players in De'Aaron Fox so they were facing the same challenge.

Overall, it was a frustrating loss and in a game that seemed like it should've been a win for a Cavs team that has played so well at home.

One bright spot on the night was Caris LeVert seemingly finding his groove once again. He finished the night with a team-high 22 points, six assists, and six rebounds.

The Cavs will play the back half of a back-to-back on Saturday night as they welcome a blossoming Oklahoma City Thunder team to town.

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