A furious fourth-quarter comeback attempt fell short and the Sacramento Kings lost their first home game of the replay, 122-120, to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
For the second straight contest, an opponent had a monster game, as Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell poured in 51 points.
Malik Monk had another big outing for the Kings, scoring a game-high 27 points with five three-pointers. Domantas Sabonis was one assist away from a triple-double with 22 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists. Harrison Barnes had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and De’Aaron Fox just missed one with 19 points and nine assists.
The Kings (6-4) shot better than the Cavaliers but committed twice as many turnovers, 20 to 10.
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The Cavaliers led early, but a 9-0 run put the Kings up 25-17 with just over four minutes to go in the first quarter. A late 11-0 run by Cleveland helped the Cavaliers take a 33-30 lead at the end of the first period. Mitchell had 24 of Cleveland’s 33 points.
A 12-0 Sacramento run early in the second quarter featured one traditional three-point play and three three-pointers (by four different players), giving the Kings their largest lead of the game at 46-37. But the Cavaliers came right back with eight straight points of their own to cut the deficit to one. Sacramento led 59-55 at halftime.
The third quarter was a horror show for the Kings, as they were outscored 42-21. Cleveland took control early with a 13-0 run that put the Cavaliers up 71-61 with 10 minutes to go. The lead steadily grew and Cleveland took its largest lead of the game at 97-75 with less than two minutes left. It was 97-80 at the end of three quarters.
The Kings still trailed by 17 at 110-93 with over seven minutes left. They made things interesting as Monk hit a pair of three-pointers and Fox had two baskets in a 10-0 run that made it 110-103 with five minutes left. But the Cavaliers’ Caris LeVert hit a three-pointer and Mitchell made two free throws to push the lead back to 12 at 118-106. The Kings rallied late, but ran out of time. A Barnes three-pointer at the buzzer made the final score closer than it appeared.
This game was played with Highlight Maker Hoops Prime Time.
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