The Cleveland Cavaliers cruised past the Sacramento Kings at home, 101-90. They have now won nine straight games. Kevin Love led the way with 23 points on 9 of 17 from the floor, including 10 rebounds and three assists in 29 minutes. Kevin Love started off with 16 points all in the first quarter. He got back on track tonight after having two consecutive bad shooting nights.
Kyrie Irving put up 21 points on 8 of 13 shooting to go along with six assists. Irving drained three out of six of his three-pointers and kept up the good shooting, as he has hit 17 of 29 from deep the last two games.
LeBron James was considered doubtful this game with a sprained wrist but did end up playing. LeBron scored 19 points and also added three rebounds, gave out seven assists, and came away with four steals. However, James was sloppy with six turnovers tonight.
J.R. Smith had a nice game with 16 points on 6 of 12 from the field, including three rebounds, five assists, two steals, and hit four three-pointers. Timofey Mozgov put in a solid game as well, with seven points, eight rebounds, and three blocked shots, but he also did a good job of defending DeMarcus Cousins, as he held the All-Star to only 5 of 17 shooting from the field.
The Cavaliers held the Kings to 90 points on 35.7 percent from the field. Their defense has really stepped up during their win streak and in fact, they have allowed less than 100 points in their last seven games. The Cavs shot a respectable 47.5 percent from the field.
Cleveland is definitely one of the hottest teams in the East right now. Their next game is tomorrow at Minnesota which will be Kevin Love's first game back there after being with the Timberwolves the past six seasons.
For the Kings, DeMarcus Cousins led the way with 21 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, five steals, and dished out four assists. Cousins was only 5 of 17 from the field, but he was 11 of 12 at the free-throw line. Today, Adam Silver announced that DeMarcus Cousins will replace Kobe Bryant in the All-Star game.
Rudy Gay put in 20 points and plucked nine rebounds but was only 6 of 16 from the field. Darren Collison had 11 points and handed out four assists in 26 minutes. Omri Casspi came off the bench and added 15 points.
The Kings, as a team, were cold from the field tonight. They have now dropped to 16-29 on the season after starting out pretty decent earlier in the year. Their downfall came when DeMarcus Cousins missed a handful of games due to a stomach virus, and the team decided to fire head coach Mike Malone.