Wrap-Up — There’s no such thing as an easy game in the NBA. But the Cavaliers cruised through Monday night’s victory without meeting much resistance against a team limping into the All-Star Break.
Rudy Gay’s 20-footer gave the Kings a 7-6 lead just over two minutes into the game and that’s as good as it would get for Sacramento. On the next possession, Kyrie Irving canned his second triple of the night and the Wine and Gold never looked back – taking the 120-100 decision over the Kings at The Q.
Kyrie was just offering a preview of things to come with his two treys to start the scoring. The three-time All-Star would go on to tie a season-high in points and tie a career-high in assists. On the night, Irving finished with 32 points – going 13-for-21 from the floor, including 5-of-8 from beyond the arc – adding three boards, a blocked shot and a team-high 12 helpers.
LeBron James notched his first triple-double of the season – and 40th of his illustrious career – in Monday’s win, going an even 8-of-16 from the floor for 21 points, 10 boards and 10 assists. Just to fill up the boxscore, James added a team-high two steals and a blocked shot.
J.R. Smith was deadly from long-distance again on Monday night – going 6-for-13 from deep, 8-of-18 overall – to finish with 22 points.
The Kings came into Monday’s game having dropped seven of eight, allowing teams to score almost 118 points per over that stretch. After falling on Sunday night in Boston, the Cavaliers jumped on them early – leading by eight after one quarter and by 16 at intermission.
Cleveland’s combination of Tristan Thompson, Timofey Mozgov and Anderson Varejao never allowed Sacramento’s All-Star big man, DeMarcus Cousins, to get off in the victory – holding the NBA’s fourth-leading scorer and rebounder to just 14 points and eight boards.
Kevin Love returned to the lineup after missing Saturday’s win over New Orleans with a left quad contusion. Love rounded out the Cavalier starters in double-figures with 11 points, though he went just 2-of-10 from the floor. Richard Jefferson came off Cleveland’s bench to finish with 10 points and Iman Shumpert led both teams with a career-high-tying 11 rebounds.
The Cavaliers outrebounded Sacramento, 53-44, while outscoring them on the break, 13-9, and on second-chance opportunities, 23-12.
View game stats.
View photos from The Q.
LBJ skies for the slam.
Turning Point — The Wine and Gold were in control once they took the lead in the first quarter, but a strong run over the final four-and-a-half minutes of the first half put the game away for good.
DeMarcus Cousins’ jumper got the Kings to within nine points, 45-36, with 4:34 to go before intermission. But Kyrie scored on back-to-back possessions, keying a 16-9 run culminating with J.R. Smith’s 22-footer to end the period, that propelled the Cavs to a 16-point lead.
The Kings would get no closer than 13 the rest of the way.
By the Numbers – 1,601 … three-pointers that J.R. Smith has now canned over the course of his NBA career. Monday’s win marked the second straight game that Swish has canned six triples in a game and the sixth time this season he’s hit at least that many. Monday was also his fifth straight game that he’s drilled at least four treys and the 11th straight game that he’s hit at least a pair.
Quotable – Coach Tyronn Lue, on limiting All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins on Monday night …
“Our bigs have been doing a great job. With (Andre) Drummond (a few games ago), I think he had one offensive rebound and one lob, which he gets four or five of every game. Our bigs are doing a great job of paying attention to detail. Timo, Tristan and Andy have been great. Kev has been great. Tonight, the same thing with (DeMarcus) Cousins, we did a great job of switching matchups with him by having Tristan on him some, having Andy on him some and having Timo on him some. So, our bigs have been doing a fantastic job.”
Up Next – The Cavaliers close out the unofficial first half of the season on Wednesday night – and it’s a big one: welcoming Kobe Bryant to Cleveland for his final game as a Laker at Quicken Loans Arena. After that, the Cavaliers – aside from LeBron and the coaching staff – get a nice week off to gear up for the season’s second half. That second half tips off next Thursday, February 18, against the Bulls in a nationally-televised contest at The Q.
