Just one night after being manhandled by the Blake Griffin-less Los Angeles Clippers, the Sacramento Kings dropped the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-95. The 14-point win over the defending Eastern Conference Champions marks the Kings’ biggest margin of victory this season.
Vince Carter turned back the clock in this one and dominated the Cavs for 24 points on just 12 shots. Carter was 4/5 from beyond the arc, including an insane corner three right before the end of the third quarter. The future hall of famer turned his best game of the season after missing last night’s game with sore ribs.
The Kings were competitive throughout the entirety of the contest and outscored the Cavs in all but one quarter. This was in large part due to the strong play of the bench which scored 68 points.
One of the strongest bench performers was Bogdan Bogdanovic, who had 16 points and eight assists on just 6/9 shooting. Bogdanovic played 31 minutes, many of which came at the point.
Kevin Love led the offense for Cleveland with 23 points on 7/12 shooting. LeBron James had a big night with 16 points, ten rebounds, and 14 assists, marking the 62nd triple-double of his career.
This was a very impressive win and shows what the Kings will be capable of when they learn to play complete games on a consistent basis. Sacramento joins the Houston Rockets as the only two teams to beat both the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland this season. One interesting point is that this is the second straight game in which Skal Labissiere didn’t see the floor.
Zach Randolph dropped 14 points, and Willie Cauley-Stein posted an impressive 17 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Sacramento now sits at 12-22 and face off against Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns on Friday.
