The new year hasn't been too kind to the Cavaliers, who tip off a much-needed three-game homestand on Wednesday night with their ninth straight Western Conference foe – the Sacramento Kings.
During Cleveland's recent funk, they've dropped five of their last seven, with one of those wins coming less than two weeks ago against Dave Joerger's struggling squad in the Cavs first game in the new Golden 1 Center. In that meeting, Cleveland scored 120 points and have tallied 120+ in each of their last 3 meetings against Sacramento.
Cleveland has won four straight against the Kings, outscoring them by an average of 13.0 points per, handing out 23.3 assists and hitting 13.8 triples per.
The Cavs are coming off a difficult loss – with the Big Three posting monster games and still falling to the Anthony Davis-less Pelicans on Monday night in New Orleans.
The Kings had dropped eight of nine before winning on Monday night in Detroit as they work their way through an eight-game roadie.
In the second half of Monday's loss to the Pelicans, Kyrie Irving was almost unstoppable – tying a franchise record with 35 points after intermission, keying a one-man comeback that barely fell short. The four-time All-Star notched the eighth 40-point game of his career – finishing with a season-high 49 – going 15-for-28 from the floor, including 8-of-14 from long-range and a perfect 11-for-11 from the stripe.
He also logged 42 minutes of work on Monday after putting in 41 minutes in Cleveland's overtime loss to the Spurs on Saturday night – and at some point soon, Coach Tyronn Lue will look to get his superstar guard some rest.
During Cleveland's four-game run over the Kings, Kyrie has averaged 27.3 points on 54 percent shooting, including a .420 mark (13-for-31) from beyond the arc to go with 6.8 assists. The former Blue Devil led Cleveland with 26 points and five assists in the victory earlier this month.
Before Cleveland's last appearance in Sacramento, LeBron James called DeMarcus Cousins the best big man in the game – and that point is hard to argue.
Over the last five years, Cousins has posted 23 games of at least 30 points and 15 boards – most by any player over that span – and late last month posted four straight games of 30-plus points, the first King to do so since Chris Webber back in 2001.
The tempestuous seventh-year pro has already posted a 55-point game this season and his overall numbers this year – averaging 28.0 points, 10.3 boards, 4.3 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game – haven't been matched in two decades; the last person to post such stats was David Robinson in 1993-94.
That means no easy day at the office for Tristan Thompson, who'll make his 414th straight appearance on Wednesday night at The Q. Thompson has been off-and-on dating back to Cleveland's West Coast road trip.
Aside from his struggles at the stripe, Thompson was very good against San Antonio on Saturday, but he finished with just two points and seven boards despite the absence of Anthony Davis on Monday.
Earlier this month, Coach Lue talked about tapering down some of his starter's minutes towards the end of January and heading into the All-Star Break. That means that Cleveland's bench will have to step up if the Wine and Gold hope to head into the unofficial halfway point atop the East.
That was not the case, however, on Monday night in the Big Easy – as the Pelicans reserves outscored Cleveland's, 44-13.
Although they both posted strong games in the January 13 win over Sacramento, both Channing Frye and Richard Jefferson have struggled shooting the ball over the last couple weeks. Kyle Korver has been relatively quiet of late, but he had his best outing as a Cavalier in that contest in California's capital – finishing with 18 points, going 7-of-10 from the floor, including 4-of-6 from deep, to go with five boards and a pair of steals.
The Kings' bench came up big in their Monday night win over the Pistons – combining for 52 points. Ty Lawson led the charge with 19 points and Willie Cauley-Stein added a dozen for Sacramento.
As the NBA season hits the dog days – after the halfway point but before the All-Star Break – most squads will begin relying on their reserves just a little bit more.
DeMarcus Cousins is one of four players in the Western Conference averaging at least 20.0 points and 10.0 boards but in the East there's only one – Kevin Love.
As the Conferences round out their All-Star rosters in the coming days, it seems an almost certainty that Love will be making his fourth trip to the midseason classic.
On Monday night in New Orleans, Love posted his team-best 26th double-double, finishing with 22 points and a game-high 16 boards, including six off the offensive glass. As good as his overall numbers have been, Love would love to snap out of a shooting slump that's seen him hit on only 34 percent from the floor and 26 percent from beyond the arc.
The former Bruin – who comes into the tonight's contest tied for 9th in double-doubles – posted one of those 26 outings against the Kings earlier this month, finishing with 15 points and a season-high 18 boards.
He'll have to deal with Cousins and Kosta Koufos on the boards in the rematch as the Wine and Gold look to snap out of a midseason funk on Wednesday night at The Q.
