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With one win needed to clinch the #1 seed in the East (who among us saw this coming in October?) the Cavs host the Sacramento Kings, who are on the 5th game of an eastern road trip. So far they are 1-3 with the win coming against the 19-58 Hornets.
The Kings have been sputtering lately having lost 7 of their last 9 and 12 of their last 17. They are in 10th place in the West, two games ahead of Phoenix for the last play-in spot. The Kings are 37-40 overall, 18-21 on the road, and 11-26 against teams .500 and over. Both the Cavs and Kings had Saturday off after playing Friday.
These teams played in Sacramento on March 9 with the Kings winning 123-119. Darius Garland was out for the Cavs while the Kings were missing Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine. They’re both back now and on Friday they combined for 49 points and 21 rebounds against the Bulls. So both teams will have more firepower than the last game, but more so the Kings.
Evan Mobley had 31 points and 10 rebounds in the first game and Mitchell had 26 points. The Cavs were playing on the second night of a back-to-back with travel.
Dean Wade and Ty Jerome are listed as game time decisions. It’s likely Jarrett Allen will only play the first half for the rest of this season. Starting forward Keegan Murray is a GTD for the Kings.
Sabonis is averaging 19 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 assists on 58% from the field and 40% on 3’s. He is one of the most talented scorers in the league from the center position. The Kings are 6.2 points better when he is in the game - best on the team.
DeMar DeRozan averages 22 points and scored 27 against the Cavs in the first game. He is the master of the mid-range shot. DeMar is 35 but can still play. He hit a huge 3-pointer in the last two minutes of the first game.
Zach LaVine is averaging 22 points on 50% and 42% since coming to the Kings at the trade deadline in the De’Aaron Fox deal. Starting power forward Keegan Murray averages 13 points and 7 rebounds. He is questionable and the backup, Jake LaRavia, is out. If Murray can’t go they will be down to their third power forward starting. That would be Trey Lyles, averaging 6 points per game.
Keon Ellis, a third year undrafted player, starts at PG. He averages 8 points and 1.5 assists in 24 minutes. Ellis has scored 14 points in his last 90 minutes of action. He had 13 against the Cavs a month ago, however, on only five shots.
Malik Monk, averaging 18 points and 6 assists, comes off the bench. He had 22 points and 8 assists in 39 minutes in the first game. Devin Carter had 16 off the bench in the first game. Since then he has played a total of 36 minutes and scored 5 points. Jonas Valanciunas started last game but he’ll back up Sabonis this time. He was a -17 in 25 minutes in the first game.
The Kings rank 10th in scoring and 20th in scoring defense. It’s hard to stop these guys so you have to outscore them. They are not a 3-point team, ranking 22nd in 3-rate and 20th in 3-point percentage at 35.5%. But in the first game they hit 46% and that was the difference in a 4-point win.
The Kings lead the NBA in percentage of mid-range shots, thanks mostly to DeRo. They are 29th in frequency of shots at the rim and 23rd in 3-point frequency. It’s all about stopping their mid-range game.
On defense they are the worst team in the Association at forcing misses on 3’s. Opponents are making 38.4%, the highest percentage in the league. In Sacramento the Cavs made 38.2%, right on the average, but Mitchell, Strus, and Jerome combined to go 2-for-16. Even 4-for-16 would have won them the game. Playing at home with a day off instead of on the road having played the night before might mean the Cavs shoot better from deep this time. They were locked in against the Spurs on Friday.
The Kings rank 26th in defending the rim, so attacking the rim or shooting 3’s are both great choices. The Kings rank 24th in blocked shots as Sabonis is much better offensively than on defense. The only area where the Kings stand out on defense is rebounding where they rank 3rd.
The Kings are average at offensive rebounding but they grabbed 14 in the first game, so the Cavs need to tighten that up even with Allen out the second half. The wings need to continue to swarm the defensive glass when a shot goes up.
If the Kings want to hang on to the last play-in spot they need to win as many of the last five as possible. It’s a very tough schedule; at Cleveland Sunday, at Detroit Monday, then home against Denver, the Clippers, and Phoenix. That last game could decide the 10th spot. A win against the Cavs would be huge.
The Kings are healthy and need this one much more than the Cavs, who are starting to rest players for the playoffs. We may see a lot of CPJ, Okoro, Green, or even the new guy, Okeke. The Kings should probably be favored in this one, although I don’t know what Kenny’s plans are or how serious he is about winning this game.
If Murray is out then the Kings will have two non-scorers in the starting lineup (Lyles and Ellis). But Sabonis, DeRozan, and LaVine can get a bucket anytime and Malik Monk off the bench is an explosive 3-point shooter who averages 18 points per game. Fortunately the Kings are the worst in the NBA at defending 3's and the Cavs are coming off a game where they were 22-for-51. It make take something like that to win this one.
The Cavs should also attack the rim early and try to get Sabonis in foul trouble because Valanciunas is not nearly the scorer that Domantas is.
The Kings have been sputtering lately having lost 7 of their last 9 and 12 of their last 17. They are in 10th place in the West, two games ahead of Phoenix for the last play-in spot. The Kings are 37-40 overall, 18-21 on the road, and 11-26 against teams .500 and over. Both the Cavs and Kings had Saturday off after playing Friday.
These teams played in Sacramento on March 9 with the Kings winning 123-119. Darius Garland was out for the Cavs while the Kings were missing Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine. They’re both back now and on Friday they combined for 49 points and 21 rebounds against the Bulls. So both teams will have more firepower than the last game, but more so the Kings.
Evan Mobley had 31 points and 10 rebounds in the first game and Mitchell had 26 points. The Cavs were playing on the second night of a back-to-back with travel.
Dean Wade and Ty Jerome are listed as game time decisions. It’s likely Jarrett Allen will only play the first half for the rest of this season. Starting forward Keegan Murray is a GTD for the Kings.
Sabonis is averaging 19 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 assists on 58% from the field and 40% on 3’s. He is one of the most talented scorers in the league from the center position. The Kings are 6.2 points better when he is in the game - best on the team.
DeMar DeRozan averages 22 points and scored 27 against the Cavs in the first game. He is the master of the mid-range shot. DeMar is 35 but can still play. He hit a huge 3-pointer in the last two minutes of the first game.
Zach LaVine is averaging 22 points on 50% and 42% since coming to the Kings at the trade deadline in the De’Aaron Fox deal. Starting power forward Keegan Murray averages 13 points and 7 rebounds. He is questionable and the backup, Jake LaRavia, is out. If Murray can’t go they will be down to their third power forward starting. That would be Trey Lyles, averaging 6 points per game.
Keon Ellis, a third year undrafted player, starts at PG. He averages 8 points and 1.5 assists in 24 minutes. Ellis has scored 14 points in his last 90 minutes of action. He had 13 against the Cavs a month ago, however, on only five shots.
Malik Monk, averaging 18 points and 6 assists, comes off the bench. He had 22 points and 8 assists in 39 minutes in the first game. Devin Carter had 16 off the bench in the first game. Since then he has played a total of 36 minutes and scored 5 points. Jonas Valanciunas started last game but he’ll back up Sabonis this time. He was a -17 in 25 minutes in the first game.
The Kings rank 10th in scoring and 20th in scoring defense. It’s hard to stop these guys so you have to outscore them. They are not a 3-point team, ranking 22nd in 3-rate and 20th in 3-point percentage at 35.5%. But in the first game they hit 46% and that was the difference in a 4-point win.
The Kings lead the NBA in percentage of mid-range shots, thanks mostly to DeRo. They are 29th in frequency of shots at the rim and 23rd in 3-point frequency. It’s all about stopping their mid-range game.
On defense they are the worst team in the Association at forcing misses on 3’s. Opponents are making 38.4%, the highest percentage in the league. In Sacramento the Cavs made 38.2%, right on the average, but Mitchell, Strus, and Jerome combined to go 2-for-16. Even 4-for-16 would have won them the game. Playing at home with a day off instead of on the road having played the night before might mean the Cavs shoot better from deep this time. They were locked in against the Spurs on Friday.
The Kings rank 26th in defending the rim, so attacking the rim or shooting 3’s are both great choices. The Kings rank 24th in blocked shots as Sabonis is much better offensively than on defense. The only area where the Kings stand out on defense is rebounding where they rank 3rd.
The Kings are average at offensive rebounding but they grabbed 14 in the first game, so the Cavs need to tighten that up even with Allen out the second half. The wings need to continue to swarm the defensive glass when a shot goes up.
If the Kings want to hang on to the last play-in spot they need to win as many of the last five as possible. It’s a very tough schedule; at Cleveland Sunday, at Detroit Monday, then home against Denver, the Clippers, and Phoenix. That last game could decide the 10th spot. A win against the Cavs would be huge.
The Kings are healthy and need this one much more than the Cavs, who are starting to rest players for the playoffs. We may see a lot of CPJ, Okoro, Green, or even the new guy, Okeke. The Kings should probably be favored in this one, although I don’t know what Kenny’s plans are or how serious he is about winning this game.
If Murray is out then the Kings will have two non-scorers in the starting lineup (Lyles and Ellis). But Sabonis, DeRozan, and LaVine can get a bucket anytime and Malik Monk off the bench is an explosive 3-point shooter who averages 18 points per game. Fortunately the Kings are the worst in the NBA at defending 3's and the Cavs are coming off a game where they were 22-for-51. It make take something like that to win this one.
The Cavs should also attack the rim early and try to get Sabonis in foul trouble because Valanciunas is not nearly the scorer that Domantas is.
