The Cleveland Cavaliers are coming off a tough Christmas Day loss to the Golden State Warriors. They should factor that grueling game into tonight’s contest against the rebuilding Sacramento Kings and sit LeBron James.
Golden State is the best defensive team in the NBA, and whenever they’re your opponent, you feel them. The Cleveland Cavaliers had a decent showing, but some mental breakdowns throughout the closing stretches of each half resulted in a defeat at the hands of Kevin Durant and their rivals. With Cleveland taking on a team struggling to find their footing tonight in Sacramento, it presents them with an opportunity to work on some things. With a tougher game against the Utah Jazz on Saturday night, they should rest James here.
It’s a bit of a different outlook for the Cavs when LeBron is not on the floor. That’s not a hot take.
Nonetheless, the King still leads the league in minutes played this season, per Basketball-Reference. Historically, James has sat down at times during this road-heavy month of January since his return to Cleveland. It’s seemed to have worked in the past, and with this Kings opponent on tonight’s slate, I’d vote yes on resting him.
Sacramento’s off-season acquisitions have not really materialized to this point, as they are last in the league in net rating, per nba.com. The Kings made some splashes before the year started, bringing in George Hill, Zach Randolph, and Vince Carter to instill some veteran leadership to pair with the young players on the Kings. For a multitude of reasons, the production has not been there from Hill running the point, though, and the chemistry has been off.
The Kings have not enough consistent floor-spacers to pair with the rim-running and roll diving of Willie Cauley-Stein, so the Cavs should be able to pay close attention to Buddy Hield and cut off the paint. This Cavs bench did not play to its full potential against the Warriors, but they should be able to bounce back in this one, even without James physically directing offensive and defensive assignments on the floor. The Kings have the worst offensive rating and the second-lowest true shooting percentage in the league, per nba.com, so it’d be smart to allow the King to get some extended rest going into the weekend and next week.
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It’s not as if the Cavs can just walk into the Golden 1 Center and grab a win. The first meeting with Sacramento came down to the wire in Cleveland, but I don’t see why Kevin Love can’t have his way again. He will have favorable matchups with his strength and ability to shoot from deep, and his presence will lead to good looks for Kyle Korver. That should allow Korver to come back with a better performance than last game (which resulted in only three points and a minus-five plus-minus) against Golden State.
Only the Cavs (yikes) have given up more three-pointers per game than the Kings, so Korver, J.R. Smith, Jose Calderon, and Jae Crowder should have their opportunities from a variety of action off-ball and penetration. Both Love and Korver has posted gaudy numbers on catch-and-shoot action this season, as usual. With D-Wade often at the controls without James, that should still be the case. Against the Bucks, a few games back, the Cavs (and especially Wade) went on a tear to nearly complete a huge comeback.
The Kings are last in the league in defending pick-and-roll ball handlers, and if the Cavs are patient throughout the game, the good looks will open up. Ball movement off of screens will be essential in this one, as is always the case, and the Cavs can get their cutting going from that action. Cedi Osman has shown a knack for that ability in the last few weeks.
If the Cavs can keep speedy Kings point guards De’Aaron Fox and Frank Mason in front of them and minimize Randolph’s low-block touches, they should be able to patch things together defensively. Rebounding has been a recurring issue, but if the Cavs don’t give up extra chance buckets, they should be fine. This team does not have the Warriors’ shooting capability.
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It won’t be a cakewalk without their general in there, but the Cavs need to make a long-term move here and try to win without James against a non-playoff team. This is not a league-mandated “marquee game,” and the Indiana Pacers will not gain a ton of ground on them in the Eastern Conference if they do take an L.
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