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Wrap-Up -- The Cavaliers left everything on the floor in their tough loss to the Warriors on Christmas Day at Oracle Arena. Unfortunately, they forgot some of it when they moved on to Sacramento.
The Wine & Gold simply seemed to run out of gas late in the second game of their three-game trip, scoring just 15 points in the final period as the Kings pulled away for the 109-95 win on Wednesday night at the Golden 1 Center.
Vince Carter turned back the clock – leading the league’s highest scoring bench with 24 points in just under 30 minutes of work, going 6-for-7 from the floor after intermission and 10-of-12 overall, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Wednesday’s contest wasn’t the first time this season that the Wine & Gold had difficulty with the Lottery-bound Kings. In Cleveland’s December 6 win at The Q, the Cavaliers needed a late 8-0 run to pull away from Dave Joerger’s scrappy squad.
The Cavaliers trailed through much of the first half, but seemed to find their footing midway through the third – turning a nine-point deficit into a three-point lead. But the Kings rallied right back and Vince Carter’s three-pointer at the buzzer put Sacramento back in the driver’s seat heading into the final period.
Only three Cavaliers notched double-figures in the loss.
Kevin Love followed up a monster game on Monday afternoon in Oakland to lead the Cavs again with 23 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including 3-of-8 from long-range and 6-of-6 from the stripe, adding five boards and a pair of blocks.
LeBron James tallied a triple-double for the sixth time this season and the third time in his last six games against Sacramento – finishing with 16 points and leading both teams with 14 assists, 10 boards and five steals.
JR Smith tallied double-figures for the first time since December 8 – going 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, 5-of-9 overall to go with six boards and a steal.
Kyle Korver drilled three triples off the Cavaliers’ bench and the reserves combined for 32 points, but that paled in comparison to Sacramento’s second unit – which pooled together for 68 of the team’s 109 points. The trio of Vince Carter, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Willie Cauley-Stein alone combined for 57 of those points, shooting a combined 24-for-35 from the floor, 7-for-11 from deep.
KLove scores 23 and LBJ tallies a triple-double as the Cavs fall to the Kings.
On the night, the Cavs followed their 32 percent shooting night in Oakland by hitting on 43 percent in Sacramento. Cleveland remedied its issues on the break, topping the Kings, 17-4. But the Kings had a 10-point edge over the Wine & Gold in the paint and held the Cavs to just 33 percent shooting in the final period.
Turning Point -- Although momentum was squarely on Sacramento’s side heading to the fourth quarter, Cleveland trailed by just five. Things got away from them quickly from that point, however.
The Kings would proceed to score the first nine points of the final period, capped by Bogdan Bogdanovic’s three-pointer with 8:38 to play that put Sacramento up two touchdowns.
Kyle Korver momentarily stopped the bleeding, hitting a trey to get the Cavs to within 11 – 94-83. But the Kings didn’t let up, running their advantage to 17 before Tyronn Lue emptied his bench with a tough test in Utah looming to complete the trip.
By the Numbers – 24 … consecutive games that the Wine & Gold have canned at least 10 three-pointers – including a dozen more on Wednesday night. Only Houston (currently at 27 and running) and Boston (26 straight last year) have had longer streaks.
Quotable – Dwyane Wade, on the second unit’s recent struggles on the trip …
”We’re out of rhythm. We had a flow going, we had a rhythm going and then things changed a little bit. We’re bringing guys back and the lineup is different. So, we’re out of sorts a little bit, we’re out of rhythm. We need to find it back, and we will.”
Up Next -- After falling to the Kings on Wednesday night in Sacramento, the Wine & Gold get a couple days off before wrapping up the three-game trip with a stop in Salt Lake City to take on Quin Snyder’s Jazz on Saturday night. The Cavaliers come home – but it’s a quick stopover – welcoming the Portland Trail Blazers to The Q on January 2 before getting right back on the road, traveling to take on Kyrie Irving and the Celtics the following night in Boston. The five-game, 10-day trip rolls on from there – with stops in Orlando and Minnesota before wrapping up with a back-to-back against Toronto and Indiana.