The Kings De'Aaron Fox had a chance to win the game for Sacramento in the waning seconds but his mid-range shot refused to fall to give Cleveland the win.
Kevin Love's 19 points led six Cavaliers with double-figure scoring with Jarrett Allen (18 pts and 17 rebounds) and Darius Garland (12 pts 11 assists) each posting double-doubles.
Cleveland improved to 23-19 on the season and won their second of three games on their six-game road trip before visiting Utah Wednesday evening.
Swashbucklings
1) Play of the game- Newcomer Rajan Rondo stopping De'Aaron Fox from driving to the basket, as Fox wanted to do, and forced Fox to fire a fallback jumper with Rondo contesting.
The odds of that short falling, under those circumstances, are long and Rondo's veteran smarts had to know that, so by making sure that he forced Fox to shoot rather than drive, decreased Fox's chances of making the winning shot.
2) The win gave Cleveland their 23rd win of the season, which means the Cavaliers have now won more games at the halfway point of the season than they did all of the 2020-21 season.
And yes, I am surprised.
3) I wrote last week that I thought the Cavaliers needed to at least win two of their six games on their road trip to consider a disastrous trip avoided.
Cleveland has done so with wins in Portland and Sacramento sandwiched around the expected loss to Golden State on Klay Thompson return night. so one more win (or even two) would be a very successful trip.
4) For a team that is known for playing a multiple big man lineup and uses 6'10 Kevin Love as well, the Cavaliers get beaten far too often on the offensive boards.
Sacramento only led Cleveland 15-14 in offensive rebounds but they did it with a front line of Marvin Bagley, Harrison Barnes, and Alex Len, and they aren't confused with the Dennis Rodman's of the world.
5) Cedi Osman came back to the lineup at the start of this road trip and against the Kings, Osman finished with fifteen points but his deep three-pointer to end the first quarter was a key part in Cleveland building their lead to thirteen at the half.
Osman has improved his game this season from a player that was thought likely to be elsewhere in the off-season to a key contributor off the bench.
6) I've been reading rumors of the Cavaliers using Ricky Rubio's large expiring contract as trade bait as the trade deadline nears.
Collin Sexton's name has been mentioned as well, but the number of open dollars that a team trading for Rubio would gain (just under eighteen million) in an expiring contract might land the Cavaliers a badly needed off guard or a wing that could play the two or the three.
Indiana's Caris LeVert has been a name mentioned with the Cavaliers as well as Orlando's Terrence Ross and Sacramento's Buddy Hield, who scored nineteen against Cleveland in this game.
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